A Page of Emotion
by TremendouslyMental
Summary: A collection of Negitoro oneshots of varying lengths, each based around a different emotion. Latest installment: Wrong - "I am making a mistake. Stop me...please, stop me."
1. Enraged

**Enraged**

* * *

No.

This can't be happening.

My eyes flitter across the shelves in front of me, desperately looking for the for the one thing I want. No, not want. _Need._

...It's not here.

...Why isn't it here?

She said… S-She said she bought some, so where is it?

S-She wouldn't l-lie to me, right? S-She wouldn't say that she bought some when she d-didn't, would she?

... _Would she?_

My eyes turn from a cheerful sky blue to a stormy dark grey, and the smile falls off my face.

...There is going to be _hell_ to pay once she gets home.

Right at that moment, I hear the door swing open on its rusty old hinges, and her deceivingly sweet voice rings through the small apartment.

"Lukaaaaaa!" she shouts, skipping through the doorway obliviously.

 _Speak of the devil_ , I think to myself with a sadistic grin. "I'm here, _dear_ ," I growl towards the open door.

Miku skips towards the kitchen door, her long, teal twintails following suit. _She'll be lucky if she still has that much hair when I'm done with her._

"Hey Lu-" starts Miku, before abruptly stopping. She eyes the clenched fists by my side, before looking up to meet my eyes.

I smirk at the terrified look in her eyes before speaking.

"...Where have you put my tuna?"


	2. Enthusiastic

**Enthusiastic**

* * *

I stare up at the ancient building in front of me, a dopey grin plastered onto my face. A plaque off to my right reads "The Crypton School of Performing Arts". I have to pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming. I'm actually here. In real life. This is not a dream.

I force myself to walk towards the front doors of this massive building. Only when I step through, the cool air a refreshing change to the summer heat outside, does the nervousness hit me. And it gives me a really good hit, right in the side.

I fall to the ground, my guitar bag taking the brunt of the force as I land on my back. Almost tripping over my too-long hair, I get up and rip open the bag, bracing myself for the blow to my wallet in repair costs. I wince as I see the damage my precious, expensive guitar has sustained.

"Sorry!" says the person who knocked me over. I look up, ready to start screaming into this person's face, when the most beautiful girl I've ever seen comes into sight. My words die in my mouth.

"Are you okay?" she asks, one hand in her flowing, pink hair, the other in front of me. I look at it questioningly, before realising that I was supposed to take it.

"W-Well, um, yeah…" I say, the words tumbling out of my mouth. Really, she was beautiful. No doubts about it.

She gives me a funny look, and I stare nervously back at her. Only after a few more long, awkward seconds do I realise that I haven't taken the hand held out to help me. A high-pitched laugh leaving my mouth, I grab her hand, her soft, delicate hand, and she gently pulls me to my feet.

Her deep, blue eyes flicker to my feet, before widening. Immediately, she starts apologising.

"I am so, so sorry!" she apologises, bowing deeply to me. I blush, red filling up my whole face. "I swear, I will pay for any damage I've done to your guitar! I wasn't looking where I was going, and I'm in a rush, and nothing is going to plan…" She continues speaking, but I can't focus on what she's saying - only on the sweet sound of her voice.

"Hey," I say, cutting her off in the middle of her ramble, "do you want to meet up on the weekend?" I ask, the words solid with no stuttering. I don't know where the courage came from.

The anxious look melts off her face, and she smiles at me, her eyes glittering like the sea. "Sure." She looks at the guitar once more, before bowing again to me and walking hastily in the direction of the elevator, head bowed.

My heart swells at the thought of our meeting in five days. I pick up the guitar bag, the pain of paying for the damages slightly lessened by the thought of the beautiful woman.

Only when I am walking up to my new dorm, an even bigger spring in my step than before, do I realise something very important.

"Crap," I mutter to myself, sighing. "I never got her name, or told her where to meet me."


	3. Frustrated

**Frustrated**

* * *

One day, Miku was watching Luka perform her hit song 'Leia' on stage, wearing a fancy black and red dress, a nice contrast to the heavy, expensive-looking, complex guitar slung over her shoulder.

Later that day, Miku searched for Luka, pulled her away from her lunch (a tuna sandwich and a bottle of apple juice, which also happened to be Luka's favourite meal) and shoved her into her workroom, before running off, shouting "Don't move!" at the bewildered pinkette, slamming the door shut behind her.

Luka looked in the direction of the door. "That girl…" she thought aloud, before sitting on the kitten beanbag chair in the corner of her friend's room. No sooner after she had begun to think about why she might have been dragged away from her lunch did Miku burst into the room, a very familiar object in hand.

Luka looked at the object in her friend's hand, before meeting the tealette's eyes.. "...Please don't tell me you want to learn how to play that."

Miku smirked. "Oh, you know me so well."

* * *

Miku stood up, and punched the wall (quite forcefully), before grasping her hurt hand out of pain. "Luka, why…!?" she asked.

Luka sighed. "Miku, your hand hurts because you punched the wall." She picked up Miku's discarded guitar and put her fingers onto the fretboard. "Now, if you're finished whining, will you come back here and watch what I'm doing?" When Miku kept sulking, Luka fell back into her chair. "Miku, remember that you're the one who wanted help from me. The least you can do is, y'know, take it."

Miku frowned and walked over to where Luka was sitting. "Fine, fine," she said, sitting down, leaning towards Luka. "Show me one more time?"

Luka nodded and looked back at the guitar. "So, you press your first finger down across all six strings, tilting it onto its side a little, until it rings clear." Luka strummed the strings, every note clean and crisp. Then, she handed the guitar off to Miku. "Now, your turn."

Miku picked up the guitar, and tried emulating Luka, but ended up with a bunch of sad, muted notes coming out of the amp. She started leaning forward, intending on falling to the cold, wooden floor (and, hopefully, break the stupid guitar along with her face) when Luka caught her and wrapped one arm around Miku's own, pulling her towards her body.

Miku's face heated up as she felt Luka's body press up against her own as the taller girl manipulated her fingers. "Now try."

Miku strummed, and, to her shock, a clear chord rang out. Luka laughed out of delight and hugged Miku.

"There, look! Not so hard, is it?" the pinkette said, arms still around the red tealette.

Miku smiled. She was _much_ more content with practising the guitar if this was her reward.


	4. Disappointed

**Disappointed**

* * *

"Lukaaaa!" whined Miku, wrapping her arms protectively around her pink-haired girlfriend. "Why do you have to go?"

Luka smiled, before looking at the puppy dog eyes presented to her. "I'm sorry Miku, but I need to go. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, you know? When else will I get the chance to perform at an event as big as this?"

Miku pouted before an idea struck her, and her eyes lit up. "How about if I come with you-"

"No, Miku." The pinkette rejected the idea immediately. "We can't have you missing three months of school because of me," she said, rubbing her girlfriend's arm. "Besides, you're doing bad enough in school already," she joked, a grin on her face.

"Hey!" said Miku defensively, hugging herself. "My grades aren't that bad…"

"Yeah, they aren't, but they'll definitely go down if we go and you refuse to be tutored." She shifted towards Miku and hugged her. "Relax, Miku. We'll speak every day, and it's only three months."

Miku looked down to the floor again. Three months was a long time, wasn't it? "...Fine. But you'd better bring me back something nice. Like a kitten."

Luka laughed. "Yeah, yeah, of course I will."

The room fell silent, both girls staring up at the whirring ceiling fan above them.

"Luka?" asked Miku, shifting her head towards her. "What'll happen if you find someone else you like while you're abroad?"

Miku couldn't resist asking. She knew that Luka wouldn't hurt her, but that nagging feeling wouldn't go away. They'd only been together for a month (and ten days, four hours, three minutes and thirty-two seconds… but it wasn't like Miku was counting), but Miku thought that she was already starting to fall in love with Luka. Her heart would surely break into a trillion itty-bitty pieces if Luka found someone else.

Luka shot up. "I love you!" she practically screamed. "There's a snowball's chance in hell that I'd like someone else!" Luka seemed to realise what she'd been saying after she'd said it, and went a bit red. "Uh… well, that is…"

Miku chuckled, before kissing her. "I love you too, idiot."


	5. Inconsolable

**Inconsolable**

* * *

Miku cried.

Her vision was blurry, her cheeks wet, her eyes puffy, her nose red, her whole body trembling so much she didn't know how she had even managed to walk into her and Lu-

The girl sighed, wiping her eyes with a tissue from her fourth box of tissues that hour, only to have another quickly come and take its place.

It seemed like only yesterday when they had met each other after Miku threw a bucket full of muddy water onto the Luka, the most popular girl in school, "on accident".

It seemed like only yesterday when Miku asked Luka out after getting her to warm up to her. She still had the butterfly ring that Luka bought her that day.

It seemed like only yesterday when Miku and Luka were forced to break up, leading to Luka finding Miku halfway over the railing of the local tower, and the two of them promptly making up, against the wishes of their parents.

It seemed like only yesterday when Luka asked Miku to marry her during their trip to Paris ("That's a bit cliché, don't you think?" Miku asked. "It's okay, 'cos I bet you'd rather me give it to you this way than the way I originally planned, which was gonna be through a roll of tuna maki with the ring in the middle." "...Okay.").

...It was only yesterday when Luka had left Miku to go on a business trip to London.

But it seemed like time had stopped once Miku heard those two words that changed her life forever.

Miku would've given anything to protect Luka from that knife in that moment, even if she was killed herself.

 _No._ Miku pushed that thought to the back of her head. She wouldn't have wanted Luka to feel what she was feeling at that moment.

Miku thought for a moment. _I might as well just… kill myself._

Miku visibly flinched at that idea. No. Luka wouldn't have wanted her to throw her life away over her. It would mean both of them would have been two massive wastes of time. Luka had always hated time-wasters.

Wobbling, Miku sat in up bed. She'd carry on, and she'd do Luka's life justice.

Within seconds, her body gave out, and she fell back onto the bed. _I… I can't... But I will... Just... Not now..._

So, instead, she cried.


	6. Brave, Part I

**Brave, Part I**

* * *

"Oh my gosh! It's going to be _soooo_ awesome!" exclaimed Miku, all jittery with excitement as she and her girlfriend stood in the line to ride the _Exterminator_ , the latest ride to be unveiled at their favourite theme park.

"...Yeah, 'course it is, Miku..." mumbled Luka almost incoherently, looking down at her feet. _Don't let her notice, don't let her notice, don't let her-_

"You alright, Luka?" said the excited tealette, snapping Luka out of her thoughts.

Luka flinched backwards, her head shooting up as she was brought out of her stupor. "Y-Yeah, of course I'm fine, what makes you think otherwise?" questioned Luka, straightening her posture and trying to act as natural as possible. She reckoned she did a pretty good job of it if Miku wouldn't notice the sheen of nervous sweat on her forehead and her trembling knees.

Miku raised an eyebrow. "Well, for starters, you're stuttering, and you stink of sweat." She held a serious look for a few seconds before pulling Luka into a hug. "But it's okay, 'cos it's _your_ sweat, and anything of yours is perfect," she laughed, her arm draping itself over Lulka's shoulders.

Luka immediately shrugged it off, much to Miku's surprise. "Wha..."

"I am _not_ scared." The tall pinkette's gaze became cold and hard, her eyes as cool as steel.

Teal eyes narrowed before a grin broke out on her face. "Wanna bet? We go on every ride in the extreme section twice, and whoever throws up first loses."

Luka knew she'd lose, especially to an adrenaline junkie like Miku, but she was also stupidly competitive, a fact Miku was taking advantage of. "And if I win?"

Miku smiled. "I'll put tuna in every meal we have for a week."

Luka couldn't help but grin, even if she was scared out of her mind. Miku _hated_ tuna with a passion, while the fragrant ( _fragrant_ , not smelly) delight was her single most favourite food on the face of the earth. "And if I lose?"

"The same but with leeks," Miku replied simply, her expression and posture unchanging.

Luka shuddered. She couldn't help but find it ironic that they both hated the other's favourite food. "You're on." She agreed in a heartbeat, though, in her mind, she knew there was no chance she'd win.

A devilish smile spread across Miku's innocent face. Only then did Luka realise the full extent of what she was in for.

 _Oh, shit._


	7. Brave, Part II

**Brave, Part II**

* * *

"Feel like vomiting yet?" asked Miku without a care in the world as she walked towards the next ride from hell in the theme park.

Luka blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the blurring in her vision. "N-No! I'm completely fine!" she shouted confidently, before erasing the effect of her words as she lost her balance and tumbled to the floor.

"Oww…" groaned Luka, scowling at the ground. Laughing, Miku held out a hand for her to take.

"Come on! Don't go injuring yourself now! If you don't wanna do it, just say so!"

Luka shook her head vigorously as she got to her feet. "No, I said we'd do this, so I'm going to do it 'till the very end!" She looked up at the next attraction, and couldn't stop the shiver that went down her spine.

"I think this is the only ride we haven't gone on," said Miku. Then, she shrugged. "Guess that means _someone's_ gonna have to chuck up, and that someone is _definitely_ not going to be me."

Luka gulped and tried to force the heavy feeling in her heart down.

"Luka, you sure you're okay?" asked Miku, slowing down her pace. "You look ill… Y'know, we can stop this if it's _that_ bad…"

"No no," said Luka, walking slightly quicker than before towards the ride, every step as heavy as a two-tonne weight. "We're gonna do this, and I'm gonna win." … _I'm gonna fucking lose._

Miku raised an eyebrow. "You sound so confident for someone who looks like they're gonna throw up just by looking at the ride."

Luka sweatdropped. _Shit, she saw right through me!_

As Luka thought about her imminent defeat at the hands of the baby-faced teenager Miku Hatsune, said teenager grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the ride. "Come on! Park's closing in-" she looked down at the teal watch on her wrist - "twenty minutes!"

Somehow, Luka's heart rate slowed down a bit. Maybe she could stall Miku and avoid the ride altogether!

"Ah, Miku…" grunted Luka, suddenly halting and doubling over in pain. "My stomach is killing me…"

"Psh, you big baby, you'll be fine," said Miku, weaving between the people, still a vice grip on Luka's hand.

Soon, they slowed to a stop and waited in the queue of two parties to join the ride.

Luka did actually feel like she was going to vomit at the mere sight of the ride. _I mean, there's about twenty loops in that thing! And look, their bodies aren't even fully restrained! And how can something_ that _fast even be considered safe-_

"Luka?" asked Miku, bringing Luka out of her fear-induced daze. "Our turn," she said, an evil glint in her eye. Luka gulped, and took a few shaky steps towards the ride, before settling into the carriage - just as fate would have it - right at the back.

It seemed like she had only gotten into the ride when it started flying across the rails, and Luka slammed her eyes shut and her head down. Beside her, Miku was screaming her head off, having the time of her life, while Luka was trying not to faint.

 _Fuckshitfuckshitfuckshit I'm gonna fucking shit myself oh God please help me I don't wanna die…_

The mantra repeated on and on in her head relentlessly, the words trying to calm her down, but to no avail.

Suddenly, the ride stopped. Luka's head lost in her hands, and she didn't want to take it out. For all she knew, the ride could've stopped to make people feel assured and happy that their life wasn't in danger anymore!

"Oh my _gosh_ that was freaking cool!" exclaimed Miku, her teal twintails bouncing.

Luka muttered something unintelligible into her arms. She was very glad the ride was over. Now she could go home, have a nice bubble bath, and just immerse herself in all that is pleasant and tranquil-

"Time for round two!" came Miku's high-pitched voice.

All the colour drained from Luka's face in a split second. She'd completely forgotten about the second time around the park!

"Ah, but it looks like we won't get to ride all of 'em…" said Miku, sighing a little in disappointment.

A little beam of hope shone through Luka's heart. "Well, if we can't ride all of 'em, then we'd better just go home!" she exclaimed a little bit too enthusiastically to be natural.

Miku looked at her confusedly, before the same evil glint returned to her eyes.

"Actually, I've just had an idea. Let's just ride the biggest, tallest, loopiest, most _petrifying_ ride this place has until either closing time or vomit flies! Yolo, right!" she said, a smirk emerging onto her face.

 _Oh, SHIT._


	8. Brave, Part III

**Brave, Part III**

* * *

The carriage slowed to a stop for the umpteenth time that afternoon, and Luka was pale from terror. The bitter, nasty taste of vomit crept into her mouth, but she swallowed it down, much to her own disgust.

Luka never thought that a stupid amusement park ride of all things would be the thing to take her down. She was _Luka Megurine_ \- she didn't let something as small and insignificant as a _roller coaster_ be the first thing to make her lose her determination.

But, add Miku into the mix, and then Luka was in trouble.

"Woah, Luka," laughed Miku, a hand in her teal hair. "I woulda thought that the half-digested remnants of last evening's negitoro would be flying outta you by now-"

Luka glared at her, and Miku promptly shut up. Miku loved being competitive, but even she knew that it wasn't clever to talk back to Luka.

"When is the fucking park supposed to close?" growled Luka in one low breath, teeth clenched and knuckles white with her grip on the metal bar protecting them.

Luka felt a burst of pride in her chest as she felt Miku slide slightly away from her in the confined space of the carriage. _Ha. Deserves it for putting me through this._

Miku scratched her nose. "Um, there's about half an hour 'til they start to kick people out-"

"The fuck?" blurted out Luka, giving the blushing Miku an incredulous look. "You said twenty minutes four years ago!"

Miku chuckled, averting her eyes from Luka. "Well…" she started, scratching the back of her head. "I might've lied so that we could ride this roller coaster again…"

Luka felt an overwhelming urge to punch her girlfriend in the face. Seething with anger, she stayed silent, giving Miku the dirtiest look she could muster.

"...How about we change the deal up a little?" asked Miku, a small smirk playing at her lips.

Some of Luka's anger dissipated as Miku spoke. Luka, being the curious cat she was, couldn't stand not knowing what was going through Miku's mind. On one hand, Miku could've been trying to be nice (for a change), but, on the other hand, she could've been making it even worse for Luka…

Wordlessly, Miku pressed her sweet, soft lips to Luka's ear, and whispered, her breath making Luka squirm, but not out of fear.

"If I win, I top for the rest of the month."

Needless to say, Luka threw up on the next go around very quickly, before whisking Miku away to their bedroom, locking the door behind her.

The next month was pretty enjoyable for both Miku and Luka. Ultimately, Luka came to the conclusion that being confident and cocky was always the way to go if it gave her something like _that._


	9. Sharing

**Sharing**

* * *

An eleven-year-old Luka looked helplessly at the small, teal-haired girl in front of her before her eyes darted to the sniggering blonde beside her.

"What are you laughing at?" asked Luka, crossing her arms and turning her head away from her friend.

"You made her cry." Lily snorted and covered her mouth with her hands. Luka really couldn't see what was so funny.

"What's so funny, though?" she questioned, a confused look on her face. The younger tealette let out a shrill wail, piercing the air, as well as Luka's young (and delicate) eardrums.

"Ha," grinned Lily, "you've made her cry even more…"

Luka gave her a dirty look, to which Lily shrugged, and started walking away from the pond they were near and back towards the school. "Don't tell Sakine-sensei that I was with you when she finds you…"

Before Luka could ask her what she meant, the older blonde had sprinted off, out of view. Huffing, Luka crouched down to meet the younger girl's eyes. Letting out a tired sigh, she looked into the red, puffy eyes in front of her.

"Do you wanna go back to-" Another high-pitched scream cut Luka off, making her recoil from the harshness of the loud sound. Grunting, Luka decided she didn't like kids, completely forgetting that she was one herself.

Begrudgingly, she pulled her sandwich out of her bag and held it out in front of her temptingly. "See here, Miku? It's a leek and tuna sandwich. If you shut up and follow me to the school, I'll share it with you," she offered, a forced smile awkwardly plastered onto her face.

Miku seemed to consider it, eyeing the sandwich with an almost content ( _almost_ ) look, much to Luka's relief. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, though, the tealette let out yet another ear-piercing shriek, making Luka practically leap back, almost falling into the pond.

Rolling her eyes, Luka gave up and fell onto the dirt beneath her. She rested her head on its side and watched the ripples dance about in the water. "Is there anything I can give you to make you come back with me?"

The seven-year-old abruptly shut up, and a gentle whisper escaped her lips. Luka had to strain her ears to hear it.

"A hug."

Luka couldn't help but laugh. Happily, she sat up and wrapped her arms around Miku's small frame protectively, sharing a hug with her. They sat in content silence for a good thirty seconds, before Luka spoke.

"Does that mean I get to keep all of my sandwich?"


	10. Pessimistic

**Pessimistic**

* * *

"She's not gonna like it."

"Oh, c'mon Luka, don't be a downer, of _course_ she'll adore it!"

"Have you even seen it? It looks deformed and ugly."

"No, it doesn't. It looks like a lot of care and effort had been put into it, and that you've done the best job you can with it!"

"I'm offended to think that you think that this is the best I could do." Luka raised an eyebrow to the bluenette next to her, before warily looking back to the "gift" she had "lovingly crafted" over the course of three weeks for her and her girlfriend's one-year-anniversary.

Kaito rolled his eyes playfully. "Luka, she'll love it. Yeah, it might not look the best aesthetically-" Kaito ignored the I-knew-it-you-big-fat-liar look Luka was giving him - "but anyone can see that you've put effort into it! 'Cos who else would go out of their way to use about four hundred and ninety-two different colours of wool in one scarf? Not your ordinary love-struck girlfriend, no!"

Luka facepalmed as she heard her friend talk. She had wanted to give something special and meaningful to Miku for their all-important one-year-anniversary, and she didn't want it to be impersonal, like a generic, shop-bought, mass-produced item, but she didn't have the money to get Miku something custom like a special ring or something. So, she settled for using her oh-so-excellent knitting skills she had acquired during a knitting masterclass she took after she got a voucher from her mum for her birthday. Needless to say, the masterclass wasn't so much responsible for the… thing Luka had managed to unleash on the world compared to Luka general inability at life in general.

Kaito sighed, and grabbed Luka's shoulders, facing her towards him. "Luka. Miku's gonna love it, and I know it. Yes, even though it looks a bit sad, even though it looks like you had to steal it off an alien from the most unfashionable planet ever, even though Len could've made something that looks better than that, and he's got no fashion sense whatsoever-" Luka shot him a look. "Okay, my point is that she'll love despite all those things because you made it. You. Not a machine, not in a factory, but you. You, Luka."

He let go of Luka's shoulders and sat down on the bed. Luka gave him a pessimistic look. _This isn't going to go well._

* * *

Nervously, Luka held the "present" - nestled safely in a gift bag _far_ too pretty for the thing it contained - behind her back, anxiously waiting for her girlfriend to arrive. They had agreed to meet at the entrance of their local park at seven, and it was now 7:01. As the time slowly went by, mercilessly teasing her with every passing second, Luka felt the urge to just throw the unidentifiable object under a tree and run to the small corner-shop across the road to buy something for Miku grow. She had a hand halfway into the bag to yank the item out when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Hi, Luka!" came the happy shout to the shocked pinkette. Said pinkette pulled her hand out of the bag dejectedly, and walked up to Miku, a grin hiding the contorted face she really wanted to make.

"Hey, M-Miku." Luka mentally facefaulted at her stuttering. Miku was just _bound_ to ask her what-

"Spill."

Luka sighed, and, knowing the feisty tealette wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, she tried to work her way around it. "It's nothing just about the present I've got. Speaking of which, should we exchange presents now?"

Miku gave Luka wary look, reading right through her façade. Luka sweatdropped as the teal-haired girl examined her. Her reply came after twenty years of agony for Luka.

"Sure." wordlessly, Miku pulled a sleek, black box out of her purse, and held it to Luka. "Happy one year anniversary!" she chirped, a serene smile taking over her features.

Luka winced at the expensive-looking box in front of her, before taking it with a gratuitous nod and cracking it open.

Her eyes widened considerably as she took in the look of the drop-dead gorgeous necklace Miku had given her. It was silver, with two strands of metal entwining between each other before meeting in the middle, encasing a masterfully cut teal and pink crystal. In her peripheral vision, Luka could see Miku looking into the evening clouds above them, a smug look on her face.

Luka felt like jumping into a hole. Her present was nothing compared to this! Still in awe, she uttered her thanks and slipped the box into her own bag gently. If she hasn't already been wearing a necklace with her black maxi dress, she would've put the precious piece of jewellery on in an instant.

Seconds passed, Luka's anxious face contrasting Miku's expectant one.

"...Where's my gift, then?" asked the younger girl, a dazzling smile on her face. "C'mon, Luka! Don't tell me you've forgotten to get me a present yet again…"

Frowning, Luka shoved the bag out in front of her, before having an intense staring contest with her shoes. She heard Miku's excited squeal, which quickly morphed into a shocked gasp, before finally settling into the bewildered silence.

"Uh, it's a… really unique, um… s-scarf?" Luka facepalmed as she heard Miku's comments.

"It's actually a jumper." Luka's face burned bright red, the regret of not being good with her finances weighing heavy on her heart.

"O-Oh, I knew that!" exclaimed Miku. "Look, there's a sleeve, and there's the head hole…"

Luka looked up to see Miku trying to put the jumper on through the sleeve. Sighing, Luka got up off the bench and pulled it off of her soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend's head.

"You don't have to force yourself to wear it if you don't like it…" uttered Luka, mortified. She knew that Miku wouldn't like it the moment she finished it…

"A-Ah, you've got it wrong!" yelled Miku, scurrying to Luka's side, snatching the garment out of her limp hands. "It isn't something I'd wear out of the house, b-but you made it, so I love it!" To prove her point, Miku snuggled out to the fabric, rubbing it against her cheek like a cat does to its owner's hand.

Luka looked up. Miku wasn't one to lie… did that mean she actually _liked_ her gift…?

"W-Well," started Miku, scratching the back of her head, "take that with a grain of salt, 'cos I don't think I'll be pretty happy if I get something like this for our two-year-anniversary…"

Luka's face burned even brighter than what she thought was possible. _Ah, yes. There it is._


	11. Engrossed

**Engrossed**

* * *

This game had taken over Miku's life.

Ever since it had been released a month ago, her daily routine had literally been: wake up, brush teeth, eat, pick up phone, look for Pokémon, go back home, sleep. That's it. It was the summer holidays, so there was no school for her to sit in, wasting her life away while a boring teacher droned on about some random "algebra". She didn't have to talk to her friends or anything social like that either. Hell, the closest thing to human interaction she got these days was mumbling to her mum about her plans for the day over breakfast when she asked (which was pretty stupid, if you asked Miku - what did her mum _think_ she was going to do?).

But that was fine.

'Cos, y'know, Miku didn't need socialisation and stuff to survive. Those moments she might've spent talking to people could've been spent completing the Pokédex, or battling at a gym, or other useful stuff like that.

That's how Miku winded up leaning against the wall of the Yamaha building, the only gym within a five-mile radius that she wasn't the leader of.

She wasn't obsessed. She just was dedicated and focused, that's all.

A grin on her face, she picked her six favourite Pokémon, before starting the series of battles.

 _Ha_ , she mentally scoffed, _this gym'll be easy. They've only got Golbats and Hypnos. They're no match_ _for my beautiful CP 2,687 Gyarados or my 2,021 Raichu…this is gonna be a piece of cake._

As the thought of (metaphorical) cake came into her mind, Miku's stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since that pathetic slice of toast she nibbled on before embarking on the strenuous 4.82-mile walk to the centre of the city. Which, also, was the longest distance she had probably ever travelled in such a short space of time.

Huh. Pokémon Go had made her more active. Maybe she had lost weight with all the walking.

Miku shrugged. She was skinny enough anyway. A bit of cake could only do her good, right?

With that thought in her mind, she headed towards the road, hoping that she would stay within the border of the gym-

...Damn. Miku scowled as she walked, her steps growing heavy as she got more agitated, teal eyes leering down at the screen in front of her. _Stupid servers that don't even work wouldn't work even if I was stood right next to the WiFi box-_

Miku heard a short shout come from somewhere close behind her, but, before she even had the chance to look up and give the insolent idiot a dirty glare, she felt someone smash into her back, making her stagger forward onto the pavement, dropping her phone in the process.

As soon as she had gathered her bearings and hurriedly grabbed her phone and checked the screen for damage ( _mypoorbabymypoorbabymypoorbaby- oh god it's okay_ ), she looked up and saw a jaw-droppingly beautiful woman looking back at her.

"Woah, are you okay?" the stunning woman asked.

"Um, yeah, no I'm fine, yeah." _Wow Miku, how smooth can you get…?_

The woman smiled a dazzling smile that made Miku feel a bit faint. "Well, that's good, then." She turned around and crossed the road, walking towards the building Miku had been stood near mere moments before. "And listen to the warning screen, alright? You never know, LukaTuna and her team of fish Pokémon might not be near to save you next time!" she yelled behind her, before being lost in all the crowd of people.

Miku blinked, before walking into the cake shop, buying a small bun, walking out, and crossing the road, taking a lot of care to wait for the cars to stop before crossing, her phone safely tucked into her pocket.

Only when she was safely leaning against the building did she take out her phone, opening the app with one hand while the other held onto the bun. Relentlessly, she battled every trainer, knocking out each and every Pokémon that dared to fight her. When she reached the Gym Leader, she breathed a sigh of relief. _Now I hope that the game doesn't glitch out on me…_

The trainer name popped up on screen, and Miku furrowed her eyebrows. Abruptly, her head flew up, and her eyes scanned her surroundings, looking for a specific person. After a few seconds of careful searching, she found who she was looking for.

The woman who had saved her life earlier on (and who Miku didn't even thank, she realised, face going red) was stood there, leaning against the wall like Miku was, looking intently at her phone.

Miku felt an unfamiliar feeling burning at the edge of her heart and grumbled. She knew exactly what it was…

 _This woman thinks she's better than me at Pokémon Go…?_

Miku's eyes darkened. _Oh, it's fucking_ on _._


	12. Hopeless

Written with inspiration drawn from wowaka's 'Rolling Girl'.

* * *

 **Hopeless**

* * *

A nightmare.

Miku's eyes open and she smiles, shifting in her bed to face the girl next to her.

She's sleeping.

Her face is calm and relaxed. A small smile graces her lips as she dreams. Her pink hair is slightly tangled, but Miku thinks that only adds to her adorableness. Silently, she cups her cheek and pulls her in for a kiss.

Miku feels Luka smile against her lips. Soon, they pull back, their foreheads tilting forwards to meet the other. Luka's deep, blue eyes open, and Miku can't help but smile.

She doesn't want this moment to end.

Just as the thought runs through her head, Luka giggles quietly. The sound is beautiful, and Miku feels her heart beat faster by the millisecond as she looks into the girl across from her's eyes.

"Oh, Miku," sighs Luka as she sits up, closing her eyes and tilting her forehead back against the headboard, losing the contact with Miku.

Miku frowns.

"Oh, Miku." Luka repeats herself, and stays still, only her lips moving. "What. An. Idiot."

Miku's vision blurs, and she hears a shaky breath escape into the air.

Luka carries on. "Did you really think I'd go out with someone like you?" She snorts as she sniggers at the smaller girl, who was shrinking up with every word. "I mean, come on - did you _honestly_ think you had a chance? God, Gakupo's much better than _you_. For starters, he has a dick, and can actually pleasure girls in the right, _natural_ way, not to mention the fact that he looks his age, _and_ he isn't a freak of nature…"

Luka's words are the only thing Miku can focus on. Not her own heavy breathing. Not the tears already streaming down her face and leaving unsightly marks on the pastel pink pillow beneath her head. Not the tremors that shake every inch of her body, every cell in her being.

Luka is still speaking. "Look at yourself. You've got no boobs, your butt looks fake, your eyes are too bright… I don't know how Len even fell for you in the first place."

Just then, Len appears, Rin at her side. She smiles lovingly at Len, her young eyes filled with adoration and admiration for her brother. She edges closer towards Miku, trying not to crowd her brother, but he plants a firm hand on her shoulder, stopping her from moving. She looks at him questioningly.

"What's wrong, onii-san?" she asks, confusion in her eyes.

Len regards Miku disgustingly, as though she was a spider in the bathtub. "Rin-chan, don't go near her. You don't know what goes through her twisted mind…"

The innocent, childlike look on Rin's young face fades, being replaced with a snarl at her brother's words. "Yeah, onii-san, because only someone like her would turn down a boy as amazing as you!"

Len smirks at his sister's words. "Yeah. That dyke. She shouldn't have been born. God knows what her parents think of her."

A pair of teal-haired adults enter the bedroom, the door slamming shut behind them. As her mother stands to the side, her head bowed in shame, a man storms straight up to Miku, who was now slouched on the floor against the wall, and grabs her by the collar of her t-shirt, pulling her up to meet his height. She can't breathe.

"Listen, you dirty slag!" he roars at her, his spit covering her face. Her eyes go past his enraged scowl, only for her to see Gakupo next to Luka on the bed, smiling and holding her hand. He says something, and she laughs at his words.

A punch to her gut brings Miku's focus back to her father. "Filthy bitch! Stop perving at that poor girl and look at me!" he yells. Miku flinches but meets his eyes nonetheless.

"This is the Hatsune household. You bear the Hatsune name. No-one soils my family name and gets out of it unscathed." His low growls frighten Miku to the very core.

As he speaks, more voices enter her headspace, overlapping, mixing, blending together. They point out every mistake she's made, her every flaw, and make her aware of what she truly is.

A mistake.

Something that should've never happened.

Abnormal.

Disgusting.

A freak.

Miku feels herself being dropped, and, her body going numb, throws her hands over her ears.

The voices are overwhelming.

She chants, begs, pleads for the dissonant voices to stop singing, to free her, for her mind to be clear once more, yet still, they carry on with their song, the words dousing the hopeful fire that burnt in her heart.

Of all the voices, one sticks out the most.

A beautiful, gentle, tranquil sound, uttering one word over and over at her.

"Failure."

This one voice, this one word, sets Miku over the edge. Her hands fall limp by her sides, and the word replays endlessly in her mind, like a broken record.

Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure.

Failure failure failure failure failurefailurefailurefailure _failurefailurefailurefailure-_

Miku wakes up.

She bolts upright, only to fall forward onto her knees, sobs wracking her small frame. The nightmare is still fresh in her mind, and all she can hear in the silence of her bedroom is the voice's demeaning song.

She slams her weak fist against her head, willing herself to change, to like boys like a normal girl should, to stop those nasty thoughts of that same person from coming into her mind-

Her phone chimes. Miku's hands fall limp at her side. Her eyes snap open and she fumbles for the electronic device. Since it was that other notification sound and not her default one, that must mean-

The fire reignites, the smouldering ashes growing into a delicate flame that tiptoes around the edges of her heart.

She reads the text.

 _Hey, Miku. Wanna go to the café? Me and Gakupo are back toge-_

Miku throws her phone across the room, the electronic device smashing into the window, its screen shattering into pieces. The window didn't break, though.

Miku eyes snap closed, and she slowly lets out a sigh.

It would've been more convenient if it did.

Miku groans, an ugly, distorted sound, and stands up, only to fall back onto her bed in a fit of tears.

She's conflicted.

She knows what she's feeling.

But that doesn't mean she likes it.

She doesn't like it when the face of jealousy rears its head.

But she can't stop it, no matter how much she'd give to be able to.

If she could, she would've stopped it ages ago. If it was up to her, she would've made herself fall for Kaito, that boy with the scarf from elementary school that she was best friends with, or she would've accepted Len's feelings when he confessed to her.

Yet, she's stuck with being completely, utterly infatuated with Luka, one of her friends (just a friend - not a good friend, or a best friend, or anything above "friend" level) who is undeniably straight, and keeps going back to a guy that cheats on her and insults her and talks about her behind her back and flirts with other girls and-

The fire dies.

Miku falls against her bed.

Sleep overcomes her.

For once, it's peaceful.


	13. Threatened

**Threatened**

* * *

Miku felt like someone was watching her.

She didn't know why, but, for the past few days, the nagging suspicion of someone watching her every move wouldn't leave her mind. On the fourth day of having this feeling, she decided to tell Luka about it.

"Miku," sighed Luka, sending her a pitiful smile, "you're just overreacting. No-one's watching you."

Miku looked at her pleadingly. "I swear, it's been going on for days! When I'm in class, when I'm eating lunch, when I'm walking home..." Her eyes fell to the ground, and she kicked her feet against each other. "I... it's just really unsettling."

Smiling, Luka pulled her into a hug. "You know what? I don't have to go to college tomorrow. Shall I walk you to school, pick you up from school, and then we'll go somewhere later on in the day?"

Melting into the hug, Miku nodded and played with the hem of Luka's shirt. "Yeah..."

"Then that's settled! I'll come over early, and we can walk." Luka paused for a moment. "Or if you want me to drive you, we can do that. That means we can be sure that no-one's after my Miku."

Miku hugged Luka tightly, resting her head on her chest. The familiar, steady beat of the pinkette's heart did wonders in terms of calming her down. "Yeah..."

They sat in silence for a while, before Luka spoke up. "Okay, but, you watch, if anyone is actually watching you, I'll go give 'em what for."

Miku sat up, a questioning look in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak as she eyed Luka's less-than-muscular arms. "You sure about that?"

Luka grinned. "Well, I'll get Gakupo to do it. He might be a pain sometimes, but he's obsessed with me, so I'll just tell him that they're after me. And, boom, he'll get his fake samurai sword out and whack 'em one across the head." Luka smiled and tilted her head, her innocent expression contrasting her violent words.

Miku felt a pang in her heart. She didn't really like Gakupo, his constant flirting with Luka being an annoyance to her, but it wasn't like she'd stop Luka from being friends with him. She trusted Luka more than that. And, besides, if someone actually _was_ after Miku, he _could_ come in handy. Better him to get beaten up than Luka.

Luka must've seen the dejected look on her face, as she pulled Miku closer to her, resting her forehead against the tealette's. "Miku, I don't like him in that way. Yeah, he might not know when to stop his flirting, but he's a good guy. Trust me."

Miku smiled at Luka's words and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "Yeah..."

Luka chuckled, and Miku shot her a look. "What?"

Grinning, Luka said, "Does your vocabulary contain more than just 'yeah'?"

Miku glared at her before dissolving into giggles. "I love you, Luka."

Luka snorted. "Like you even have to say it."

Playfully, Miku glared at her, and pushed her away, pretending to sulk, her teal hair forming a curtain around her face.

Luka laughed. "Okay, okay, fine, fine, I love you too." She gave Miku a quick peck on the cheek. "Better?"

Miku smiled. "Better."


	14. Guilty

**Guilty**

* * *

When I walked into our apartment that evening, I felt a short, stabbing sensation in my heart.

I ignored it.

I heard my girlfriend of two years yell my name from our bedroom before her small frame burst through the door and latched onto me, her arms wrapping tightly around me. A dull ache started to form in my chest as I clutched her, the feeling growing stronger and stronger with each second of our bodies being pressed together.

I ignored it.

She pulled me into a quick, sudden kiss, the feeling of her soft, smooth lips nothing like those of the man I'd just visit-

The feeling grew into a crippling pain, knocking the air out of my lungs.

I pushed her back, taking deep breaths as she looked on at me. As I looked up into her eyes (her soft, youthful, innocent eyes), the sadness she was trying to hide was seeping under my skin, reminding me that I shouldn't have been there, that I should've left her before starting this other relationship, with one of her exes no less-

Her gaze left mine as she turned around, heading back into the bedroom. I tried to hold on until she walked into the bedroom, until the door fell shut behind her, but when she turned around and gave me the most loving, caring, admiring, gentle, beautiful smile I'd ever seen anyone give, I broke.

I broke, the guilt of not being able to return that smile to her destroying me.

I broke, regretting the fact that I felt more comfortable around him than I did her stabbing at every fibre of my being.

I broke, since I used her to prove a point to my parents and my "friends".

I broke, remembering the look on her mother's face when she told her she wasn't into boys.

I broke, hating myself for how I'd strung her along for three whole years, letting her believe that I'd loved her, only to ignore her feelings when I found someone better than her.

I loved Miku, but not in the way she loved me. She was the cutest thing on the plant, she was kind and considerate to every living thing she came across, she always found the good in every bad situation… I valued our friendship, and never wanted to watch it disappear like it did.

Miku Hatsune would always own a piece of my heart. But that piece paled in comparison to what Kaito Shion had.

I swear, if I had the chance to change, I would've. I would've made myself love Miku like she wanted me to, return her smiles and her kisses, and treat her like she deserved to be treated.

But love was blind to the war that raged inside me. Now, all three of us are left to face the consequences. And, I can assure you, there isn't going to be a winner.


	15. Hungry

**Hungry**

* * *

Luka looked on in bewilderment as Miku ordered practically the entire menu at the drive-thru.

"And, with the chicken burger, can I get an extra large portion of fries?" asked Miku, as Luka's eyebrows shot up.

The worker inhaled, before letting the air out in a shaky breath. "Sorry, ma'am, but we don't do extra large fries."

"Oh, so can I just get another portion of regular fries on top of the regular meal?" questioned the tealette. Luka sighed as she leaned forward to rest her head on the steering wheel. The pinkette loved Miku's voice (that was the truth - Luka was certain she'd never hear a voice a beautiful as Miku's for as long as she lived) but she loved it a bit less when it was screeching in her left ear, her thick Engrish accent making things all the less appealing.

After what seemed like twenty years, Miku finished ordering her food, settling back down into her seat. Luka didn't dare glance at the screen to see how much the order was - she wasn't even intending in letting the poor worker tell her how much it was before she could tap her card and drive away. That was, if the order was under the £30 limit for contactless payment.

Wondering where Miku was planning to put all the food in her small frame, Luka turned to her. Miku smiled back at her, her eyes the picture of all that was innocent. "Yes, Luka-chan?" said Miku, slipping effortlessly back into Japanese.

Luka grunted. "Why did you buy the whole menu?" she mumbled, feeling sort of distressed about the whole ordeal.

"Well, we're only in England and all, that doesn't mean they don't have lots of other food that we don't have in Japan," the idol stated monotonously.

"B-But that doesn't mean you have to buy the whole-"

"Ah ah ah," cut off Miku, putting a finger to Luka's lips, "but I do."

Luka didn't question her, enjoying the soft feeling of Miku's finger on her lips. As soon as Miku's soft fingers broke the contact, though, Luka's brain kicked into gear and started working properly again.

"...Did you at least buy me my chocolate milkshake?" asked Luka, a sheepish smile on her lips.

Biting her lip, Miku slowly reddened, before pointing at something in the distance. "Hey, Luka, you know that clown there? Was he actually the real founder of the whole company?"

Subtlely, Luka pouted, her eyes growing wide and watery. "You forgot, didn't you?"

Miku giggled nervously. "But at least you didn't forget my birthday, right?"

Slowly, it dawned on Luka, and now it was her turn to go red. "Um… whoops?"

Miku chuckled. "Nah, don't worry about it. After all, another year older is another year closer to the death of my career, and another year closer to my, and your, inevitable deaths," said Miku calmly, in a very matter-of-fact way. "So, yeah, it's okay."

Luka's eyebrows twitched. "...T-That's a bit dark-"

"Just kidding." Miku laughed gently before pressing her lips to the pinkette's. "I love you, y'know," she murmured over the soft music of the car.

Luka smiled. "Same here." She pulled the handbrake up and held Miku's hands in her own. "And, hey, at least if you die, I'll follow right in your tracks. But that's-"

"Stop being emo and kiss me," demanded Miku, before pulling Luka forcefully into a kiss. Their lips locked together as they leaned over the gear stick.

The kiss deepened, both girls getting passionate, pushing into one another. Breathing became deeper, gazes started wandering, and hands yearned to caress the other's skin beneath their partner's clothing…

A loud honk shattered their heated make-out session, Luka literally flying back into her seat. Both she and Miku glanced at each other, Luka's eyes reflecting humour at their situation, Miku's reflecting… frustration?

"He ruined the goddamn moment," she growled.

Luka chuckled. "Well, I'm completely content with carrying on what just happened later…" Luka suppressed a smirk at the delighted look on the younger girl's face, "...but only after we've eaten all this food."

Miku deflated, almost becoming one with the car seat. "Stupid food."


	16. Euphoric, Part I

**Euphoric**

* * *

Luka couldn't believe her eyes.

It was gone.

The ancient, black car that had taken up the spot where her car (a pretty decent convertible, which, to her friends' surprise, was _not_ pink) was gone. Gone, after literally _months_ of it just sitting there and taunting Luka. Now, she should've been euphoric...

Except that there was a different car there now.

Luka lost it.

Angrily, she picked up her phone, and called someone she knew would be able to help her, someone who knew how to annoy someone to the point of near-death.

" _Hello?_ " came the masculine voice on the other side of the line.

"Gakupo?" said Luka, an evil smirk already making its way onto her features. "You know that car that's been outside my house for the past twenty years?"

Gakupo sighed. " _Well, it's not like I could forget your sexy voice relaying how much it had agitated you to your very core-_ "

"Give over," she said, scrunching her face up. "But that car's gone, and another one's snapped up the free spot."

" _...I can't say that I see what's wrong._ " said the man.

Luka groaned. "The issue is that the other car had literally just gone five minutes ago, and, just as I'd gone to get my keys, another car took my spot straight away! I swear, they'd jump in my grave as fast!"

" _Luka, you sound like an old lady._ "

"Well I'm as cranky as one!" Luka shouted down the phone.

She wasn't going overboard. She simply hated having to walk an extra twenty metres up the road to the parking spot she'd nicked from someone else.

Luka was sure that the person whose spot she'd nicked had nicked another person's spot. It was like a cycle, where those involved unintentionally hurt the others. But, so what? Let everyone tell her that she deserved it. She wanted her parking space.

" _I have some out-of-date eggs I could give you_ ," said Gakupo, drawing Luka out of her daze.

"Don't you have anything more… substantial?" she asked, secretly hoping that he'd give her one of his massive aubergines. They had to be, like, twenty centimetres long or something. The were big, big enough to break a windscreen.

" _I'm not giving you an eggplant, Luka._ "

Luka scowled. It was like he'd read her mind. "Please, Gakupo?" she said in the cutest tone she could muster. It didn't come out very cute, though - it sounded a bit more like a dying goat, really.

Luka was met with silence. Sighing deeply, she pulled out the secret weapon only she could give, one that was sure to work on someone like Gakupo.

"I'll go out to coffee with you if you give me two mutated eggplants."

Luka heard him splutter, and scrunched up her face a bit.

" _W-What?_ " he asked, bewildered.

"I'm not saying it again." Luka was already starting to regret even giving him this opportunity. She could see his Facebook status now…

" _Y-Yeah! I'll be over with the- with the eggplant right away!_ " Luka could hear the velcro of his shoes through the phone, and shuddered.

"Two, Gakupo. Two eggplants," she corrected, wanting to get her money's worth. She was selling _herself_ , albeit for only fifteen, maybe thirty minutes at max. But that was worth heck of alot more than two lousy eggplants. She was being generous to Gakupo, really.

He'd better show up with the eggplants. If he didn't she'd be sure that this was a rigged battle, a battle that was not in her favor.

She hung up the phone, cutting off Gakupo's insolent stuttering. Despite his stupidity, Luka guessed that he had _some_ use, after all…

The thought of the monstrous eggplants came into her mind, and a dark look overtook her face.

The little fucker that took her spot was going to get what they paid for. And Lula couldn't wait to see the look on their face when they saw what had happened to their precious new car.

Oh, Luka couldn't wait.


	17. Euphoric, Part II

**Euphoric, Part II**

* * *

Maniacally, Luka grinned, her eyes wide with madness as she clutched the scarily-big eggplant to her chest.

Gakupo had to admit, he was a bit scared.

"Luka?" he asked, eyes flickering to the vice grip she had on the poor fruit. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Luka's eyes gleamed, and Gakupo swore that the sky darkened as the sun cowered behind a cloud. "Oh, I'm... splendid," she whispered, her breath making a mist of steam in front of her in the

Eyebrows twitched, Gakupo shifted slightly away from her, and coughed. "W-Well, um, when are we going to egg- _plant_ this car?"

Luka's psychopathic smirk faltered as she cocked her head to shoot him a dirty look. "What kind of a joke was that?"

Gakupo giggled childishly. "'Cos, y'know, we're gonna chuck an eggplant at the car, and then I've also got eggs in the back so I can, y'know, have an _egg_ -celent time messing up this car with a beautiful maiden."

Luka cringed at Gakupo's utterly lame jokes. "Shut up before I smash this eggplant over your head," she sighed, before turning her attention back to the idle black car, the sneer returning to her face.

"Well," started Gakupo, puffing out his chest a little, "I would be honoured to get smashed by the eggplant in your hands. That eggplant is my favourite eggplant, and, as much as I would've liked to feast on it, at least it shall go down in your pristine hands, and not some dirty scumbag's like-"

"Shut up!" blurted Luka with panic on her features before grabbing his arm and pulling him behind a hedge. Peering over the top of the green bush, Luka watched as the door to the block of apartments opened and a girl walked out.

Well, at least, she _thought_ it was a girl. She could only see some seriously long teal hair trailing behind a human-ish figure. Luka thought her hair was long - it was the sole reason she never showered in the morning any more - but this girl was in another ballpark.

Luka pouted slightly. She wanted hair like that. It looked so soft and smooth, like, if Luka got to run her hands through it, there would be _no_ knots, and it would glisten in the sunlight, gently sparkling with a radiance that reflected that of a vampire's skin in the sunlight… or was that just from that stupid vampire novel she'd read? Nevertheless, Luka wanted that hair. Or, if she couldn't get the hair, she'd settle for knowing what shampoo she used.

"Hey, Luka," said Gakupo, pulling on the sleeve of Luka's shirt.

She gave him a look and batted his hand away. "What?"

"That girl's just gone up to your car."

"...What?"

"And," he said as he narrowed his eyes, eventually nodding, "she's… she's just pulled out a tub of Vaseline and she's…" He narrowed his eyes again, focusing more on the girl.

Luka kicked him in the shin lightly. "If she's doing anything other than putting it on her lips and you're not telling me then I swear to God I will-"

"Ah," he said, jumping back and looking at her, a dopey smile on his face. "She's wiping it all over your windows. Can't say I know why, but her face looks like yours did earlier-"

"What the fuck!?" she exclaimed, before forcefully snatching the other horrendously big eggplant out of the unprepared man's hands and striding towards the teal-haired girl, positively seething.

As she neared the girl, she felt the need to smash the eggplants into her flawless hair rather than sending it packing through the windscreen of the black car in her spot grow and grow. When the girl finally turned around and noticed the angry pipette's presence, Luka expected her to at least stop wiping Vaseline all over the car.

But, no. Instead, it spurred her on.

The girl grinned like a lunatic, her eyes growing wide as she continued to smother Luka's hard-earned car with litres of Vaseline. She was doing a very thorough job - there was Vaseline on the windscreen, under the windscreen wipers, on the handles of the car, on the sunroof, heck, even in between the gap where the bonnet met the car body was filled with Vaseline.

Five long minutes passed, the girl - who Luka was pretty sure was high on something or other - diligently covering Luka's car with enough petroleum jelly to stock a pharmacy, the pink-haired girl confusedly looking on. She wondered how the girl would look if she wasn't behaving abnormally. Luka thought that the girl would've been cute if she, of course, didn't look like a deranged serial killer. Luka might've even, dare she say it, found her… attractive.

But then that thought was knocked out of her brain once she remembered what the girl was doing to her car, the look on her face, and all that other stuff.

 _Ah well_ , thought Luka, mentally shrugging as she scrunched up her face a bit. _After I've destroyed that other car, I'll destroy hers. That could only be fun._

The clock ticked on, Luka growing more and more impatient by the second, her mental state slowly suffering. The teal-haired girl, still smothering the car in ungodly amounts of Vaseline with that innocent, little smile on her face; Luka, little hints of red seeping into her cool, blue eyes; and Gakupo, watching on with a confused look in his eyes.

At long last, the girl threw the last container of jelly over her shoulder (almost hitting Gakupo right in the face) and smiled at the work, crossing her arms over her chest. She turned her head towards Luka, and beamed. "It's a great idea, right?"

Luka's head was downcast, her eyes hidden behind a curtain of pink hair. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her mouth was neutral, if not slightly frowning. She had shoved her tightly curled fists into the pockets of her hoodie, and she stood with her back slightly hunched over. She stayed silent, not acknowledging the girl one bit.

The girl, somehow, was not at all put off by Luka's silence and stance, and continued talking to her. "I don't know who owns this car, but they've been parked in my spot for ages, and they never seem to move…" Smirking, she cracked her knuckles. "But, hey, after this, they'll be forced to move to take their car to the garage, leaving me to take back what was rightfully mine." Slyly, the girl grinned, her eyes lighting up. "Hey, do you know who took my spot? I used to have this really old black car, but I've just gotten a super cool black car off my parents for my birthday."

Luka still stood, unmoving, for a few more seconds, before abruptly turning around, her eyes still looking towards the ground, and, not making a sound, grabbed the gargantuan eggplants that she had dropped onto the floor earlier and walked up to the car that was in _her_ spot and, not batting an eyelid, launched the eggplant straight through the window.

As the eggplant ricocheted off the console and landed on the leather seats with a thud, Luka smirked at the girl's horrified reaction.

Gakupo whistled, curling his hands into fists and holding them in front of his mouth like an excited schoolchild. "Oh my god," he breathed in awe, "she literally just did it. Bitch, give her one 'round the face!"

Luka's eyebrow twitched at the childish purple-haired man. The scowl fell off her face as she gently placed the eggplant to the ground. The teal-haired girl stepped forward, seemingly wanting to kick the eggplant away from her reach, but apprehensively, like she didn't know whether Luka would beat her to it and kick in right in her face or something.

Before she could take two steps, Luka jumped on the eggplant, sending its translucent juices flying through the air, staining the pavement underneath it, as well as Luka's white Vans and the girl's red flat.

The girl stared at Luka, appalled at her actions. Next, without a care in the world for hygiene, Luka scooped up the pile of squished eggplant at her feet and, her face stoic, threw the mixture onto the car's fabric upholstery. As Luka smirked at her work, the girl stood, frozen in shock, before taking several forceful strides towards the pink-haired girl and shoving her.

Her eggplant-stained hands did nothing to stop her crashing backwards to the ground, narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the cold pavement.  
The second she regained her senses, she bolted upright, ready to give the girl what she deserved. Never mind that the girl was cute - she _shoved_ Luka.

She. Shoved. Luka. Megurine.

She was going down.

Luka roared, a hoarse, gritty sound, as she shoved her hands through the open window and pulled - literally _pulled_ \- the girl up by the collar of her white, sleeveless vest and out of the car. Like a puppet master, she dropped the girl onto the floor (conveniently plopping her right onto the spot where the monstrous eggplant had met its untimely demise), who staggered backwards before falling onto her backside.

Just as Luka was about to make the girl taste the rubber of her sneakers (the consequences entered her mind briefly, before being promptly thrown out by her inner chants of _fuck the police!_ ), the hints of a sly smirk overtook the girl's pink lips as she grabbed Luka's foot and forced it upwards, making the taller girl fall to the floor yet again.

Grimacing, Luka's hand went to her mouth. Her tongue throbbed after she'd accidentally bitten it. As Luka mulled over the irony that she was in a fight but the only part of her body that was bleeding was tongue and that was only because she accidentally bit it (fights in real life were so underwhelming compared to those in Hollywood blockbusters), the girl took advantage of her unfocused state and jumped onto Luka.

Yes, the girl was straddling Luka.

The girl, a stranger who Luka might've found attractive, was straddling her in broad daylight, with the eyes of a wild animal, as Luka writhed underneath her.

Needless to say, Luka was a bit overwhelmed with it all.

"Woah woah woah," she said, a light blush covering her cheeks as she stilled. "Let's not get too carried away here…" she said, hesitantly poking the girl's thighs to try and get her to shift it. The light pink blush deepened at Luka realised that her shirt had ridden up, and the girl was only wearing a skirt. A skirt without any shorts underneath.

Luka whimpered. She wished, prayed, hoped, _pleaded_ that the girl didn't lean forwards and let her… just barely moderately-covered genitalia touch her stoma-

Too late.

No later than the millisecond she felt the telltale texture of cotton on her sensitive stomach did she literally shove the girl off her and jump twenty feet backwards. Gakupo, who was still stood there, watching the exchange like it was a play, pouted. Things were just getting exciting…

Luka, however, was far from disgusted. In all honestly, she was just a little freaked because she had no clue what would happen next. Would the girl try and sock her one in the face? Would she try and "seduce" Luka, before whisking her away to her home and _then_ sock her in the face? Or maybe just start grinding on her like the madwoman she seemed to be? Luka hadn't a clue.

Every possibility Luka could think of ran through her mind as she felt the presence of cool air on her forehead. Luka's body was heating up to a dangerously high level as she kept flinching her head away from the tealette's hand trying to get at her chin. The girl was going to try and snap her neck like she was a rag doll, Luka was sure of it.

Once the girl managed to still Luka's frantically moving head after firmly gripping her chin with those cat-like claws of hers ( _does she sharpen them?_ thought Luka, sure that the irritating spot on her chin had been popped by now), the pinkette was more than ready to give her that one punch she deserved, right in that pretty little jaw of hers-

"Wanna come to my place?" she whispered, her hot breath sending waves down Luka's neck. Luka shuddered of reflex, her jaw tightening. This situation had ran through her mind - except, she didn't actually know what she'd do if it, like, actually _came true_.

Just as Luka had summoned the mental willpower to decline the tealette's (who was _still_ straddling her), the girl let out a whimper, a whimper barely loud enough for Luka to hear, filled with such longing and desire, combined with the feeling of her breath her neck yet again-

They were off of the eggplant-splattered ground and through the building's doors in seconds.

Gakupo stared after them, eyebrow twitching, before cocking his head to look back at the Vaseline-smothered car, and then at the car that had been assaulted by his very own spawn, the eggplant he grew in the school lab. He knew that Luka's promise of coffee was gone, and was, naturally, a bit disheartened. But, as he kicked a stray piece of eggplant, he smiled. Luka was happy. That's all that matters.

...Besides, the time he would've spent in the coffee shop could've been time spent hypothesising new eggplant growth formulas.

No girl was worth more than an eggplant. Gakupo was sure of it.

With that thought in mind, the purple-haired man beamed to himself, before hopping into his car and speeding away.

As the sound of the purple car's engine faded into silence, Luka was sat in a very teal room, cradling her broken nose. The girl - Miku - had a small smile on her cute little face, filing her nails as if she was at a sleepover.

"Fuck you," growled Luka, spitting some blood onto the white rug in the centre of the bedroom.

Miku snorted. "Yeah, that's the reason you wanted to come up here, wasn't it?" she said, a look of amusement lighting up her features.

Luka sulked as the girl twisted her only retort in her favor.

Sighing, Miku set the nail file down on her bedside table, shifting to face towards Luka. "But, enough of that. Now we need to discuss the real issue here."

"Which is?" asked Luka, wiping a bit more blood from her nose.

"My car."

"...Oh."

"Ah," said Miku, clicking her fingers, "while we're on the topic, do you know whose car I vaselined? I only did that 'cos that car's been parked there for _sooo_ long, and it never moves, and… yeah."

Luka frowned. "Wait, what are you talking about? Your car was in my spot, so I took another spot since I needed… somewhere… to park."

Slowly, the whole situation registered itself into the two girls' brains, both sheepishly looking at each other.

"If I'm reading this situation correctly," said Miku, nibbling her bottom lip, "then we're both idiots. Are we idiots, Luka?"

Luka cringed at her own stupidity. "Um, yeah, this pretty much confirms the fact."

Miku sucked in a breath. "...So."

Luka blew the air out through her lips. "...Wanna get a coffee?"

Smirking, Miku nodded her head slightly. "Sure. Why not?"

Luka smiled and stood up. She started heading towards the door, before remembering a crucial issue. "Ah, hold up," she said as she raised a hand and turned around.

"What's up?" asked Miku, a concerned look on her features. "Do you want me to put a bandage on your nose?"

"Nah, my nose'll heal," Luka said with a dismissive wave, "but our cars won't."

Miku blinked, before throwing her head back and sighing dramatically. "Oh."

"'Oh' indeed."

"Well, why can't we just walk?"

Luka gave her a look. "What, walk the half hour's drive to the nearest coffee shop?"

"Yup!" Miku chirped.

Luka held her cheerful gaze with her cold one, before her resolve couldn't take it any more and melted. "You know, I'm already starting to hate you."

"Might wanna get used to it," she said with a playful wink.

Luka couldn't stop the smile from spreading out on her face. Not many girls would willingly go out with the person who just smashed their car into pieces.

That's how Luka knew Miku was a keeper.


	18. Procrastinating

**Procrastinating**

* * *

The clock in the corner of the screen read '21:14'.

The report was due by midnight.

Miku leered at the blank document presented to her.

The clock changed to '21:15'.

She bent her head to each side and stretched her arms out in front of her, before cracking her knuckles and shaking her arms, loosening them up. Letting out a deep breath, Miku sat down in the comfy desk chair, ready to get her write on.

In no time at all, Miku had finished her first page. In bright, bold rainbow-coloured Comic Sans read the words 'Hatsune Miku no Repooto desu ne~~!', complete with an 'xD' emoticon at the end.

Seven words out of two thousand done.

Miku grinned in satisfaction.

Oh, she was going to ace this report.

She moved her finger across the touchpad, the cursor flitting across the screen in synchronisation with her movements. Like a robot, she bashed the 'enter' button repeatedly, until a new page appeared on her screen, even more blank than her first page.

Sighing, Miku bashed her small fists on the old, wooden desk. Her eyes flicked down to the word count as she scowled, the small numbers that greeted her taunting her mercilessly.

It wasn't her fault that she'd left it until the last minute. 'Cos, really, endlessly playing that new song on repeat and dancing and singing like a maniac was a much, much better use of her time than something as small and insignificant as a _biology report._

Or so she thought when she was given the assignment two months ago.

Groaning, she flung her pencil across the room, its graphite marking the new, cream wallpaper with an unsightly stain.

Homework was evil.

Like, the most evillest evil thing to have ever existed to execute evil evils.

Miku internally lol'd at her joke. 'Course, if she was not weighed down by the weight of homework on her shoulders, she'd have realised how stupid she sounded and looked (the fact that she was alone didn't mean she didn't secretly know it in the back of her head) and shut up and started doing work.

But, no. Since looking stupid and sounding stupid and stuff were way better than, like, doing work.

Miku spent what seemed like minutes cracking jokes for herself to laugh at to make herself feel good. Miku knew that the clock was ticking by - she just didn't think that it would go by _that_ fast.

Imagine her surprise when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of that insignificant little clock in the corner of her screen, and saw that it now showed '22:30'.

Woah. That was much later on than the 21:16 she had in her mind.

Inhaling deeply, Miku settled herself down, trying to suppress the rising panic building up at an uncomfortably fast pace in her chest at the thought of not sending that homework in on time. It was a known fact around the school that Prof. Hiyama didn't like students not giving in homework.

But that was okay. Miku'd do the homework.

...Yeah, she would.

Just as she typed the first letter of her first word, her phone chimed, the gentle bell sound breaking her concentration.

Miku glared at the phone, her face scrunching up unnaturally as she tried making it disappear with her eyes. After a few seconds of futile mental conflict, Miku sighed and changed her plan.

She glared at the phone, willing it to move towards her.

'Cos, Miku never knew, someone important might've texted her. Her mum, reminding her of her dad's birthday. Her best friend, Rin, telling her that there was a party to go to that evening (but Miku would resist, because the homework would need to get done eventually). Her "romantic interest", Luka (they weren't yet _officially_ together, but it was close enough) sending her a friendly text (but still, Miku would kindly refuse in the politest, most gentle way possible, in order to not ruin any chances she might've had). Or Kaito, telling her that the homework wasn't due in until the next day.

As much as Miku liked Luka, she'd take Kaito's homework text over anything.

'Cos then, she'd be able to put off the homework until that evening, and spend the morning when she should be asleep preparing herself to text Luka.

Grunting, the tealette got up and begrudgingly made her way over to the phone. Her mood brightened considerably when she saw it was from Luka. Maybe she'd texted her to say that the homework wasn't due in for another day or ten…

Ah, but no. It was a late invitation to a movie that was premiering that night. Apparently, Luka had gotten two tickets off a friend of hers, and wanted Miku to go with her. But, alas, Miku had homework to do…

She sniggered at her own internal talking. Nah, she'll go to the movies. It wasn't like Prof. Hiyama would treat her _that_ badly. Rumours were just that - rumours, right?

She happily texted Luka back (the simple thumbs up emoji would more than suffice) and pulled on her sneakers, glancing at the open laptop on her ancient desk. She paid it no more than a passing thought before skipping out of the flat in a happy daze.

Blossoming love was more important than _homework_ , right?

* * *

Gingerly, Miku kept her eyes trained on the floor as she shuffled along the corridor, an angry Luka in her ear.

"I swear Miku, you need to set your priorities straight," she berated, huffing down the corridor.

Colour filled Miku's face as she thought of a way to retort. "B-But you're more important than-"

"Miku, don't postpone homework to spend time with me! That's immature, and you're supposed to be eighteen. That isn't very eighteen-year-old-ish behaviour to me."

Miku growled under her breath. She was going to say "anything", but Luka just had to go and ruin it… as well as accuse her of not acting her age. At that moment, Luka _sure_ wasn't acting her age. Miku was pretty sure she didn't like a grumpy fifty-something year-old bitter lady who couldn't see anything good in the youth of today.

"And now you have to stay back at school on Saturday to catch up…" Miku caught extremely subtle hints of sadness in the pinkette's voice in the way it quivered and quietened near the end of her sentence.

She furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head. "Luka, are you okay?"

Luka didn't look at her, but kept her head down as she spoke. "No, I'm okay. I just don't like that fact that you have a day's detention because of me."

Miku patted her back, comfortingly drawing small circles near her spine. "Luka… did you have something planned for Saturday or something?" she asked gently.

Luka seemed to contemplate telling her, before throwing any inhibitions she had into a dark pit and pulling her into a kiss in the middle of the corridor.

Miku stood still and unresponsive, her brain not comprehending what was going on. Luka pulled away almost as quickly as she went in, and grasped Miku's smaller hands in her own.

"I was going take you out to dinner on Saturday, but you've blown that, so I might as well do it here…" As if she was a doll, Luka gently guided Miku to an empty bench, and held her hands and her own as she spoke. "I was going to tell you that I want you, Hatsune Miku, with all your stupid tendencies and love-sick behaviour to officially be my girlfriend, so I'll do it now instead."

Miku's eyes widened slightly, twitching. This had to be a dream, right? Like, she'd thought all the things she'd been seeing between the two of them were in her head, but they obviously _weren't_ if Luka was actually asking her out.

Miku remained silent, and Luka grew worried. "...Have I been reading this situation incorrectly all this time?" she asked, strangely calm for someone who might be about to be rejected.

Miku snapped out of her daze and shook her head violently. "No no no no no, I accept your confession, but… damn. I need to put homework off more often."

Luka chuckled. "I'll let you off this time, but, next time, I won't give you this until you get it done."

Before Miku could ask what "this" was, Luka demonstrated it by planting one of them right on her lips. Just as Miku began to savour it, the soft lips were ripped away from her own.

"Ah ha," said Luka, pulling away from her, "don't get greedy now. Do your computer science homework and I might just give you another one."

Miku smiled. Homework was slightly more bearable with Luka's reward in the picture.


	19. Annoyed

**Annoyed**

* * *

"Fuck you Luka."

"It's not _that_ bad, Miku."

"No, seriously, fuck you."

Miku gave the sheepish pinkette the finger, before plopping herself onto one of the sofas on the patio. Grimacing, she swatted a fly on her arm.

"Hey," piqued Luka, straightening her posture slightly, "don't kill the fly just because you're a bit pissed off-"

"I'm actually this close to swatting _you_ right now."

Quickly, Luka shut up and looked down.

Miku groaned. She didn't really want to be there in the first place. India wasn't _that_ far from Japan, but it was still Miku's first time out of the country. Miku was wholly satisfied with staying in the comfort of Japan, where the temperatures were pretty mild and she knew where everything was and stuff.

To be honest, the only thing she was looking forward to was seeing Luka. Not the stupid heat. Not general boringness of the place. Just Luka.

She'd arrived the previous evening and found her way to the house where Luka was staying after waiting an hour for her to pick ger up at the airport. Apparently, Luka had gone to the _wrong fucking airport_ to collect Miku. Sure, Luka could understand, like, the wrong terminal or something, but going to an airport literally _fourty miles away_? And now, on the first day of their "adventure" together, Luka goes and _locks them out of the house_?

Miku felt she had a right to be pissed.

The two girls sat in complete silence, the thick, humid air between them thickening with awkwardness by the second. Both of their faces were redder than Luka's sneakers; Luka's out of embarrassment and Miku's of annoyance.

"...How long are we stuck out here for?" asked Miku, her eyes fixed on her phone behind the window, wishing it would just fly into her hands.

"Um..." Luka stuck her face against the window, like a kid pressing their face into the window of a sweet shop. "Gakupo gets back at six, so we've got, like, two hours?" She giggled nervously, as she pulled the towel tighter around her body.

Oh yes, how could Miku forget? Luka was locked outside with only a skimpy, black bikini covering her up.

Miku frowned and crossed her arms over her chest as the sun beat down on her fair skin. She rubbed her shoulder, feeling the starts of a sunburn coming along.

Feeling something soft drape itself around her shoulders, Miku looked up, meeting with Luka's concerned eyes.

"Your shoulders are going red," she said, before sitting down next to her, playing with the pebbles at her feet.

Miku's eyebrows furrowed as she pulled the towel off of herself and throwing it back on to Luka, who looked up in confusion. "Are you stupid?" she asked as she picked up Luka's forearm. "You're paler than I am! You're gonna end up redder than a... a firetruck without that towel!" she yells, before letting out a deep breath and falling back into her chair.

Luka's face scruched up, and Miku could easily see that she's trying to avoid smiling. "What?" she snapped, pissed off at the whole situation.

Letting her resolve drop, Luka laughed, the sun highlighting her stunning smile, perfectly capturing the lively blue of her eyes. "You're worried about me," she chuckled. "It's cute." She shrugged, the melodious sound fading into nothingness.

Miku averted her eyes. "Shut up."

"Still, you're cute." Miku frowned. Luka was being awfully free with her compliments.

"What's gotten into you?" questioned Miku, scanning over Luka's figure as she tried to figure it out.

"Nothing," said Luka, before succombing to the knowing look Miku was giving her with a sigh. "I just can't believe I found a girlfriend who travelled thousands of miles just to come see me." Luka beamed.

Miku swore that Luka didn't know the effect she had on her. "...Shut up," she muttered.

Luka's smile only grew bigger as she quietened, letting a comfortable silence fall between them.

Absentmindedly, Luka tapped out a rhythm on one of the rocks as Miku watched her.

With a disgruntled internal sigh, Miku gave in. She shuffled in her seat and leaned into Luka's figure. The pinkette let out a happy sound as she rearranged the towel over both of them.

And so they sat in silence, waiting for the moment when Gakupo would show up and ruin the moment, almost definitely after oogling them with his perverted purple eyes.

But that didn't matter. Through all the stupid mistakes and the stupid heat, they had each other, and that was all that mattered.


	20. Understanding

**Understanding**

* * *

"I think I'm gay."

The words tumble out of my mouth much easier than I thought they would - completely free of stutters, and not too quiet for her to hear them.

A look of shock slowly starts to spread across her face, before she catches herself and stops. In a blink of an eye the surprise is gone, replaced by a look I can't suss out. Smiling softly, she tilts her head to the side, her eyes looking deep into my own, filled with an endless amount of questions I can see she wants to ask me.

"Are you sure, Miku?" she asks, her eyes narrowing slightly as she swims through her thoughts.

Nervously, I grin, my eyes going to the coffee in my hands. "I think so," I say as I stir the hot beverage, watching the steam rise up off it and dissipate into the cold winter air. "You're okay with that?" I ask, pronouncing every syllable purposely.

"Yeah," she says as she leans back in the chair, falling silent as she gets lost in the labyrinth of thoughts in her mind. I mirror her, falling back into my chair as the sounds of the bustling city centre fade back into existence, filling the impossible silence between us.

Carefully, she leans forward and catches my eye. "How do you know?" she asks.

As the answer flits into my mind, I smile. "I think…" I start, before pausing to look down at my hot chocolate and take a sip. "I think I like you."

She pauses, the spoon stirring her tea stopping for a millisecond before resuming its previous action. She acts as if nothing ever happened.

"Okay."

That one word caused a sensation I would liken to a stab to erupt in my stomach. I keep my eyes trained on hers, watching out for her reaction. At this moment, I can't tell. Is she happy? Sad? Apathetic? Disgusted?

Her left hand brings her drink up to her lips, breaking the carefully maintained eye contact between us. She sets down the polystyrene cup on the table lightly, before leaning towards me and drawing a breath.

"Miku," she says, bringing her gaze up to meet mine.

I suck in a breath and close my eyes, no longer able to look into the eyes I care about when they are in a state of sincere apology.

"I don't like you that way."

Her words make me flinch, their effect on me just like a knife to the stomach.

"I _can't_ like you that way."

She turns the knife quickly, the pain spreading to the rest of of my torso and into my legs, clouding my brain. Yet, still her voice is resoundingly clear.

"But that doesn't mean I can't love you."

Strangely, the pain doesn't intensify at her words, nor do I find relief. The knife is still embedded deep within me, the pain everpresent.

"I love you, Miku, and I care for you more than you'll ever know. I know that we'll be together until the day we die, and I'm completely happy with that.

"But I can't return the romantic feelings you have for me, even if I really wanted to. Because, if I could do that, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Whichever lucky girl manages to steal your heart, and who is lucky enough to fall in love with you, is extremely fortunate, and I'd be jealous of their position.

"But I can't give you my romantic love. What I can give you, though, is support, friendship, and a shoulder to cry on if you want to complain about how girls are stupid. Because I want you to be happy, Miku, but only as your best friend."

The tears cascade down my cheeks as I absorb every word that leaves her mouth, embedding them into my soul forever. The knife in my gut vanishes without a trace, a sensation of… contempt making itself known. She gets up and takes a seat next to me, wrapping an arms around my shoulder and pulling me into her, at the same time unleashing the floodgate of tears.

I feel devastated that my first crush doesn't return my feelings. But, at the same time, I can't say I regret telling her how I feel. A crush is just that, right? A crush, meant to crush you when they don't return your feelings. Feelings meant to be crushed by you before they get out of hand.

As she rubs my shoulder, her delicate touch sending shockwaves throughout my whole body, I feel myself start to chip away at the bond I had formed with her in my mind.

As we sit on this café chair together, something deep inside me knows we wouldn't have worked out as lovers anyway. But, as friends, we're meant to be.

And that's just perfect.


	21. Blessed

Loosely based off HitoshizukuxYama's 'Blessed Messiah and the Tower of Ai' (specifically, the drawing at the 1:38 mark of the video).

* * *

 **Blessed**

* * *

"Alright, let's set up camp here."

Kaito took a breath and nodded as he gently placed their equipment on the grass. Glancing at the Tower, a pained look appeared in his ocean-blue eyes, a look that intensified as Miku came into his sight.

"Kaito!" she exclaimed, grasping him in a tight hug before twirling amongst the trees, laughing all the way. Her waist-length aquamarine hair, secured into pigtails with two plain hair bands, flowed behind her with her movements. Hitching the blue dress she had made with her own two hands up as she danced about the field, she ran around the field, unable to contain her excitement. Joyful teal eyes were alight with fire as she gazed up at the Tower, her smile widening. "I can't believe we're almost there!"

Managing to force out a quiet laugh, the eldest out of all of them followed her line of sight and stared at the Tower, the flame atop the sacred torch flickering erratically, dangerously close to going out. It would surely die in less than two days.

Instantly, the smile died, and Kaito turned his head away from the ecstatic girl and met Meiko's gaze, as steely as the sword at her side. She turned away, her unfaltering brown eyes softening. However, within the second it was gone, and Meiko crouched down, collecting kindling for the fire. Behind him, Kaito could hear Miku's delighted shouts, each elated cry stabbing him in the heart.

Luka's eyes caught Kaito's, the despair present in their leader's normally sure eyes sending chills down her spine. She tried to send him a reassuring smile, but it only seemed to make Kaito more distraught, his eyes falling to the ground as he strided over to Meiko and called some people over to help with the food. Len, Mayu, and Gumi bounded over, desperate to leave the vicinity of Miku's melodious singing about how lucky she was, about how her friends were the kindest.

Luka made her way over to the hyperactive teenager and placed one hand lightly on her shoulder, the other capturing her hand. Their fingers entwined Luka bought her into the dance she had started to teach her before the Messenger arrived at their village. Quieting down in concentration, Miku followed Luka's steps, her eyebrows furrowed as she recalled the sequence of movements Luka had taught her. The elder girl moved effortlessly and gracefully, her every step light and delicate, a contrast to the clumsy steps of the next honourable Messiah.

Closing her eyes, the pinkette sighed. Distracted by the sound, the younger girl stumbled over her own feet, letting out a yelp of "woah!" as she reflexively pulled on her dancing partner's arm in an attempt to steady herself, inevitably resulting her crashing to the ground. Miku was encased by Luka's bigger - yet no less feminine - frame, her body weighing down of her uncomfortably. Instead of feeling a wave of embarrassment and awkwardness wash over her, Miku laughed and pulled both Luka and herself into a sitting position against a tree, resting her head on her companion's shoulder.

Astonished, the pinkette wrapped an arm around Miku's shoulder, drawing her closer. "How long have you had that strength in you?" she asked, impressed.

Miku giggled as she snuggled closer to Luka. "I dunno," she replied enthusiastically, "I just feel like I'm at the top of the world since the Messenger told me I'd be the next Messiah." She let out a hearty laugh as she said the words. "Can you believe it? Me, a simple seamstress from a little village, responsible for the fate of the world… It's amazing, right?"

Grinning, Luka tilted her head backwards until it rested on the tree bark. "Yeah, amazing," she agreed halfheartedly, glad that Miku couldn't see her face. She looked up into the darkening sky and gazed at the countless stars above them.

When she was younger, her mother had told her that every star in the sky was someone who'd died. One particular star, a star she'd noticed as she watched the same night sky some fifteen years prior as a little child, held particular value to her. When she saw that one star, she'd feel a sensation familiar to her, but not exactly pleasant. It was similar to how she felt when she looked at Miku after she'd received her message.

She was sure that her mother was watching over her.

She stroked Miku's hair as the younger girl drifted to sleep on her shoulder. Luka made sure to keep still as Miku rested, smiling sadly as she heard her breathing even out. Soon after, Gakupo joined her, leaning onto the tree next to Miku as he watched Len ravenously tuck into a piece of meat and Gumi gently toast a piece of bread over the raging flame, trying to forget their troubles before the next day. Rin and Ia then came over, the blonde resting her head on Luka's lap and drifting asleep while Ia lay down on her back to Luka's left.

Luka looked over their whole group and sighed. This evening would be their last together before heading into the Tower, where they'd all steal Miku's "blessings" one by one, breaking any inkling of trust she ever had in any of them.

As the moon rose above their heads, Luka picked a lone white flower from the grass and nestled it in one of Miku's pigtails. The girl stirred slightly, but didn't wake up, shifting closer towards Luka instead.

She glanced at Miku's sleeping form one last time before her eyes fell shut and she drifted away from reality for the final time, the laughter of childhood memories resounding throughout her mind.


	22. Pained

**Pained**

* * *

"It hurts, Luka."

"I know it does, Miku."

"I know you do, but it really hurts."

"I know, Miku. You've been telling me about it for the past hour."

"But it hurts."

Luka felt like pouring the steaming cup of leek and potato soup in her hands over her head. Why wouldn't the girl just shut up and live with the pain for a few days!?

"Luka?"

"Yeah, Miku?"

"I need paracetamol."

"Okay, I'll get you paracetamol. Anything else?"

"Ibuprofen."

"Good, I'll grab that too."

"...Aspirin."

"Do you just want me to buy five of every painkiller the chemist's have?"

"If you don't mind, yeah."

Luka raised an eyebrow to the girl curled up in a ball on the mattress. "It can't hurt that bad."

"The pain, Luka. It's bad. Really bad. My tummy kills."

Luka sighed and leaned back into her chair. "What else can I do to help you, though? I skipped school, sneaked past your weird brother to get in here, bought you your favourite soup, and now I'm gonna sneak back out and buy you drugs so you stop whinging."

"I have an idea."

"Tell me, then."

"I'll tell you after you've bought me drugs."

"I swear, if you're faking this-"

"Please, Luka."

"..."

The pinkette stood up and dragged herself towards the door, her feet trailing across the fluffy carpet. "Just paracetamol and ibuprofen, yeah?"

"Ask them what else is good for period pain."

"Ha," snorted Luka, "as if I'd do that."

 _Goddammit puppy dog eyes puppy dog eyes the damn puppy dog eyes-_

Without a word, Luka left, the door hanging open behind her.

When she came back, she was greeted to a sight identical to what she'd left.

"God, Miku, have you even moved since I left?"

"No. When you went my heart hurt even more."

Luka couldn't suppress the eye roll. She turned the carrier upside down over the foot of Miku's bed and shook it by the seam, spilling its contents out.

"I have a box of paracetamol, a box of ibuprofen, a bottle of water, a hot water bottle, and some tea bags."

Miku's head popped out from between the sheets. "Why tea?"

"The chemist guy said it was good. I was too embarrassed to argue with him so I bought them and left."

"Wow."

"Wow, yes, I'm that shy."

Miku held out a hand to the painkillers so Luka grabbed both of them and handed them to her, along with the water.

"How many do I take?"

"I dunno. Just have, like, one and a half of each."

"Will they kill me?"

"I'm hoping they won't."

Miku nodded absentmindedly as she popped two pills from each foil, splitting one of each type in half with her fingernail. She chucked them in her mouth and gulped them down with a mouthful of water, before falling back into the bed.

"...Drugs are good." The words came out of the tealette's mouth at barely a whisper.

Luka sat down at the foot of the bed.

Minutes passed.

"...Miku?"

"Hmm?"

"What was that medicine you were talking about earlier?"

"What?"

"That one you were saying you'd tell me after you got drugs."

"Oh, yeah."

Silence.

"So what was it?"

"Promise you won't kill me."

"Promise."

"Come here."

Luka scooched up the bed to where she was sat right next to Miku. The tealette extended her index finger and motioned for Luka to come closer, which she did. She bought her lips to the pinkette's right ear and whispered.

"You are my medicine."

Silence once again.

Luka stayed in the same place she was in, absorbing Miku's words.

"I knew you were gonna say that."

"Did not."

"I did."

"How?"

"'Cos of the 'my heart hurt when you weren't around' line."

"...How?"

"The cheesiness was prevalent."

"Oh."

"But seriously, you seem better. How come?"

"Long story, actually."

"I have time. Six hours, actually, before my parents expect me home from school."

"So when you left I started just feeling better. And then you're back, and here we are now."

"How is that long?"

"It's not, really."

"So why did you say it was long?"

"Because I wanted to."

"...Okay."

The two sat in silence for a few moments.

"Luka?"

"Yeah?"

"It hurts."

"I know."

"Hug?"

"I'm not scientifically proven to work, though."

"I want hugs."

"I might make you more ill, though."

"But hugs."

"They say sleep in the best medicine."

"Hugs."

"Fine."

So they hugged for the rest of the day.


	23. Perplexed

**Perplexed**

* * *

'It'll be fun,' she'd said.

'It'll give you something to look forward to,' she'd said.

'Who knows? Maybe he'll be the love of your life,' she'd said.

Full of hope, the brunette dropped her off at the restaurant where Luka would meet her date for dinner - a handsome man with ruffled blue hair and striking blue eyes (or, those were the lines Meiko fed her) named Kaito. Luka hadn't been impressed by the guy; she couldn't see any particular mind-blowingly-amazing things about him after a quick scan of the screen-grabbed profile Meiko emailed her when she scanned it over her lunch break. But hey, she'd been out of the game since high school, and Meiko wanted to 'fix' that.

The online-dating thing had seemed like a good idea when Luka was almost passed-out drunk on Meiko's couch one Friday evening. Even when she sobered up and had a myriad of concerns and issues, she still let the brunette do her thing - besides, those blind-date horror stories were way too dramatic and exaggerated to _not_ be fabricated, right?

Luka hated herself as she sat at the table, alone, grip tightening around the new clutch purse Meiko had made her buy just for the occasion as the waiter approached her yet again.

"Ma'am?" he called, drawing an uncomfortable smile from the pink-haired lady. "I am really sorry, but my manager says that he will have to ask you to leave if you do not order something within the next five minutes."

Luka sweatdropped. "I swear, my date'll be here in five minutes-"

"I am sorry, ma'am, but we need the table now. We have a lot of guests waiting to be seated." The waiter gestured to the podium near the entrance, and Luka winced at the horrendously long line waiting there.

"...Can't I just-"

"Your reservation was for seven o'clock, ma'am. It is now half-past eight. We have a lot of guests that need seating."

No matter how much she wanted to sock the arrogant waiter in the face, Luka's embarrassment held her back. She stayed silent for a few seconds, mentally weighing up her options. "How about I-"

"Ma'am," started the waiter, raising his voice in annoyance, "I have to ask you to leave now. Your date has not shown up and it-"

"Oh, there you are!"

A high-pitched voice interrupted the waiter, followed by a girl with long, slightly, dishevelled teal hair popping into view not long after. Her makeup was smeared and streaky - it didn't take a genius to know that she'd had a rough night. Still, a smile was plastered onto her face, and her eyes were wide and enthusiastic. The girl chuckled as she tugged at her long, white dress, fiddling with some of the lace detailing.

"I'm sorry I'm late, dear… The traffic was horrendous from the airport, and your mother just wouldn't let go of me!" apologised the stranger, her voice sincere and remorseful. "I hope you haven't been waiting long…?"

The girl looked at Luka expectantly, and she panicked.

 _Who the fuck is this woman?_

The waiter turned his attention to the pink-haired girl at her lack of response, awaiting her answer. Clearly, he didn't buy the situation.

Luka caught some motion in her peripheral vision and looked at the desperately waving girl, who was mouthing something incomprehensible to her.

Luka coughed. "Uh, yeah. She's my...friend."

Heartily, the teal-haired woman laughed. "Oh, dear, don't be shy!" She patted the waiter on the arm (he shrunk back at her touch) and sighed. "We're more than just friends! We're girlfriends!" she exclaimed very, _very_ loudly to everyone else in the restaurant.

The waiter blushed. "O-Oh."

"'Oh' indeed, my good sir!" agreed the stranger enthusiastically, taking her seat across from Luka, winking to the confused girl across from her as she flicked open the leather-bound menu.

Meanwhile, Luka was experiencing an extremely unpleasant mixture of confusion and embarrassment, for wide range of reasons that would exhaust her if she tried to think about them.

"So, dear, what would you like to drink?" the teal-haired girl asked, glancing at the waiter standing behind the bewildered woman.

Just as baffled, he slowly pulled out a paper and pen, clicking it slowly. The girl smiled somewhat smugly at the confusion he wa trying to hide.

Luka sucked in a breath. "...I'll have a Pepsi."

"And I'll have a Pepsi too, and bring a portion of garlic bread for starters please!" rattled off the girl, slamming her menu shut and practically throwing it at the waiter. As he staggered off after mumbling, "I'll be back with those drinks," the girl relaxed into her chair.

"Woo, that's him dealt with," she sighed, picking something off the white plate before her.

Luka just stared at the girl, perplexed.

The stranger stared back, an oddly happy smile on her face.

They stayed like that for a good few seconds.

"...So," started the girl, "stood-up?"

Luka shakily breathed out, before deciding to see where the conversation would go. "Yeah. Online date. Friend pushed me into it. Never again. You?"

"Oh, just told my boyfriend I'm gay and got dumped in front of, like, loads of people." She waved it off as if it was a fly near her face.

"Ouch," remarked Luka as she eyed up the girl before her. "So...we're girlfriends?"

The girl chuckled. "Do you want to be girlfriends?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Luka snorted. "Are you buying dinner?"

She paused, glancing down Luka's body. A nod. "I am now."

"Okay, then. Girlfriends we are."

"Great. Mission achieved for the night."

"Good."

Luka itched to ask her one - actually, a lot more than one, but she didn't want to interrogate the poor girl - question, but only conjured up the nerve to ask once the waiter (strangely, a different one this time round) came with their drinks and garlic bread, as well a menu for the girl, who had forgotten that main meals existed.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Knock yourself out, dude," mumbled the teal-haired woman as she stuffed her face with garlic bread.

"Where'd you come from?"

She swallowed her food and sipped her Pepsi. "My parents are from Japan but I was born and raised here-"

"No, like, I meant where did you come from today. Like, when you burst out and things."

"Oh, I was crying in the toilets. My feelings were hurt earlier on. You just looked like you were in distress, and I didn't wanna leave a pretty girl like you in distress, like how I was a pretty girl in distress."

"Ah, okay." Luka was fine with that answer.

And then she remembered one thing. "Oh yeah, and what's your name, sorry?"

The girl snorted. "Sorry, girlfriend, but I don't think we know each other well enough."

"Oops. Still, I'm Luka."

"Hi Luka. Nice to meet you, Luka."

"Nice to meet you too, girlfriend."

They nodded in acknowledgment as they munched on garlic bread and drank Pepsi. Then, the girl said something.

"Miku."

"Miku?"

"I'm Miku."

"Oh, hi Miku."

"Hi, Mi- Luka."

"...Were you about to call me Miku?"

"Actually, I was gonna call you Mika, but then I remembered your name."

"At least you remembered my name eventually, though."

"Yeah. Wouldn't have been good for our relationship if I didn't."

Luka hummed in agreement, before prodding at the ice in her glass with her straw.

What a beautiful start to their relationship.


	24. Serendipitous

**Serendipitous**

* * *

Miku was just feeling oh-so-serendipitous today.

First of all, she managed to wake up at twenty-one past six in the morning - thirty-nine minutes before her alarm. Thirty-nine just so happened to be Miku's lucky number. The day was off to a blindingly good start from the moment she'd woken up!

Next, she discovered an extra bottle of her favourite shampoo hiding amongst her conditioners on the bathroom shelf, saving her the money it would've cost her to pay for both the product and for the trip to the supermarket _and_ allowing her to wash her hair that morning, as she had an extra thirty-nine minutes to do what she pleased with. How good could a day get?

Much better was the answer, as Miku was about to find out, since Rin and Len decided to be good friends to her for once and gave her one of those new chocolate bars from the shop that were all the rage (of course, they didn't go all the way out just for her - they got a three-pack to save money and decided to give her the third one). The chocolate had that sweet taste of luck as it melted in her mouth, a dopey smile plastered on her face. Delicious!

School, admittedly, was tedious as ever; not even the most potent genie would be able to save school from monstrosity. But, it seemed her good fortune was even willing to follow her into the classroom, where she was not picked up on for having her skirt too short (for once!), sleeping in lesson, and her incomplete homework. As Miku strolled out of the classroom at the end of the day, her chin up towards the ceiling, she felt as though the world was hers to play with. She was sure it had something to do with that new shower gel she tried that morning - what was it called again…?

Enter Megurine Luka.

"Hatsune-san," said the pink-haired girl as she passed her lowerclassman, a cleaning rag in her hand.

"H-Huh?" Miku jumped upwards as she quickly shoved her phone down the collar of her v-neck sweater, suppressing a hiss as the cool aluminium ticked the skin of her abdomen.

"I only said your name," said the older girl as she took the other girl's spot on the floor, wiping up a stray spot of spilled juice, a hint of teasing in her voice. "Though, it's good I did, since you were obviously just doing something you shouldn't be doing."

Luka's eyes flickered downwards to the rectangular bulge on the smaller girl's stomach, and Miku reddened. "Oh, that?" she questioned, pursing her lips as she shook her head towards the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with the older girl. "It's just that I had some bad sushi at lunch. I thought it tasted a bit off, but oh well." Shaking her head in disbelief, she tried to inconspicuously stop the metal block from slipping out of her jumper and onto the tiled floor, smiling painfully as the other girl raised a pink eyebrow at her.

"...Okay," she agreed a bit too easily, even though it was totally obvious she didn't buy a word of it. "How did you do in that English homework?" she asked, changing the topic. She folded the bit of cloth into quarters and set it on the floor as she smiled welcomingly the younger girl, awaiting her reply.

"Oh, the teacher didn't collect it in," Miku answered, jokily wiping the mock sweat off her brow as she mentally recalled her luck during the lesson earlier.

"She didn't collect it in?" echoed her senpai, tilting her head as an adorable pout graced her lips. "Do you have it on you? Maybe I could check through it for you?"

Miku forced a smile as she tapped on her phone through her sweater, generating an appropriate reply.

"Oh, um… I don't want to burden you, though. Entrance exams are coming up for you soon, right? It'd be a better use of your time to revise for those rather than mark silly ole' me's homework."

A perfect response! It showed Miku's consciousness of Luka's life and stresses while still appreciating the offer she gave, as well as showing how much Miku cared for Luka. Genius!

Luka frowned. "I know, but you put so much effort into that homework. I remember how passionate you got about it in the library last week. It would be a shame for that diligence to be put to waste, don't you think?"

The blush came back in full force as the memory of last week's library session dredged up to the forefront of Miku's mind. Luka just so happened to be there while the younger girl was red-faced with confusion at her English homework on the active and passive voices, and graciously offered to lend Miku a helping hand. Miku, being Miku, took full advantage of the opportunity, asking the most obscure questions ("Do I just swap the verb and the subject, then? So do 'I ate the apple' and 'the apple ate I' mean the same thing? What is a verb, anyways?") to keep the older girl's attention on her and her only. It worked, and they ended up staying back for a good three hours after the school day had officially ended.

Though, Miku thought as she cringed, in hindsight, it mustn't have been good for Luka's view of Miku's intelligence.

"Hatsune-san," said the upperclassman, snapping Miku back into reality. "I really don't mind taking a look over it."

Face flushed, Miku looked down at her shoes. "...It's really not a problem, though."

Luka's eyes caught Miku's, and the younger girl suddenly felt very exposed.

"Hatsune-san, there's no need to lie to me about the homework."

Miku's eyes widened and she almost dropped her phone. How did she know? Did she accidentally say something that gave her away? She mentally replayed the conversation, coming up blank. She couldn't have gotten her lies mixed up now of all times, could she? Not after all her years of practice! Not after her bout of good fortune!

"Hatsune-san, you should've just told me that you didn't get the grade you wanted on the homework," sighed Luka, dejectedly looking towards the ground. "I'm the last person on earth that would judge you for it, you know."

Miku suppressed the urge to cry out her apologies that she even gave Luka that impression. She shivered as she carefully treaded around the web of deflections she had built up, tentatively stepping onto the lines Luka had just opened up.

"It's...embarrassing, though," uttered Miku, scratching her cheek with the arm not glued to her torso. An average response, she figured - a little vague, but that left Luka to control the flow of conversation, which could only turn out better than if Miku were to say any more.

"No, please, don't be embarrassed," the older girl urged, getting up from the floor. "In fact, do you mind if I give you my number?"

Miku choked on her tongue. After calming down from her coughing fit (the confused looks from Luka did nothing to alleviate the situation), Miku composed herself with a few deep breaths and sucked in some air between her teeth. "...Why, might I ask?"

"In case you ever need help with English." Miku's heart pained slightly; it would've been nice if it was because they were friends, but…were they even friends? "But also because I consider us to be friends; good friends, maybe. You can save me as Luka on there too, if you like."

Miku's heart fluttered as she tightened her grip around her phone. Then, Luka did something extremely unexpected:

"Hey, why don't you pass me your phone and I'll save myself to your contacts now?"

Trembling, Miku sheepishly fished the phone out from between her jumper and her blouse, handing it to her gingerly. The older girl unlocked it and, with a few swipes of her finger, had herself saved in there. "Now for the final touch," she declared, before wrapping an arm around the shaking younger girl's shoulder and nudging her. "Smile!"

Like a deer in headlights, Miku gaped at the camera as Luka smiled heartily, snapping a photo. As Miku tried to understand what in the _world_ was happening, Luka saved the photo to her contact and handed Miku her phone back, laughing. "A nice picture, might I say."

Miku limply balanced the phone on her fingertips, still reeling from the events that happened too fast for her small brain to compute.

The familiar sound of the school bell filled the halls, and Luka looked down at her watch.

"Ah, it's time to go already." She bent down and picked up her cloth before walking backwards towards the door, waving as she walked. "Text me tonight, won't you?"

Still looking panic-ridden, Miku raised her phone in goodbye, the blush on her face fiercer than ever. Luka laughed before turning around and breaking into a light jog towards the school gym.

As Luka disappeared behind the double doors, Miku grinned like an idiot.

She got Luka's number _and_ she managed to have a civil conversation with her without being reduced to a complete bumbling, stuttering mess.

Serendipity at its finest!


	25. Open

**Open**

* * *

She could already envision the headlines.

 _Hatsune Miku. The Number One Princess of the World seeks her Princess Charming. Girls rejoice: Miku reveals taboo desires. Miku's Social Media Hacked in Homosexuality Hoax._

It would be the top story on every news network in the country, providing her with never-before-seen coverage. Tabloids would grip the story by the collar, throwing her reputation under a series of rumours as they exploit her window of vulnerability to further their own profits. Her phone would be trapped in a fitful sleep; she wouldn't even be able to check the time without seeing notifications about talk shows asking for a tell-all interview to reap the rewards of her secrets, or fans gossiping about her life on social media.

She knew it would die down in a few days. The news would move onto the more pressing matters of the world, like the increasingly-unstable international political climate, or the latest on the wars in the third world. Tabloids would drop her story as she becomes old news, seeking out another broken celebrity to prey on. Her phone would calm, with no newspapers or talk shows or betrayed fans hounding, demanding her for a reason as to why she hid such an integral part of herself from them.

Yet still, it would follow her around forever.

Her career would halt faster than a car crashing into a brick wall. The bright, joyous, innocent smiles that came with the name Hatsune Miku would be torn down and trampled on, replaced with scowls of disgust and hatred and horror. She knew her parents would not be proud; they had made their stance on homosexuality abundantly clear during Miku's childhood, and she was sure that they would not hesitate to reject her as their child if the news got out.

Miku's grip on the phone tightened as she glanced at the too-white screen, the enter button taunting her to confess to her biggest secret. As she stared at the grey text in the box, she wondered how to word her confession. A single word? A simple sentence? A paragraph? A note?

Sighing, Miku tapped the back button with her trembling thumbs and scrolled through her feed. Her eyes glazed over every headline, her intense thoughts reflecting off of the constant stream of photos, videos and messages. She swiped one last time, watching as the words slowed into from a blur into comprehension, before stopping on a post that caused her heart to jump into her throat.

 _Miku spotted with mystery girl on romantic park stroll! Click here to find out more:_

Biting her inner cheek, Miku swallowed the terror that rose up her throat. Trembling, she tapped the photo of her and Luka, scrutinising it.

Miku was in a pair of muted blue skinny jeans and a bright red jumper, while Luka was wearing a flowing summer dress and flats. Their fingers were entwined - which was okay, friends held hands a lot, especially girls, didn't they? - while their legs grazed each others', their faces tinged red, with Luka biting her lip and staring at the ground as Miku openly gawked her with dilated eyes… it was obvious they were in love.

Miku's eyes locked into Luka's rasterized face, and she felt herself get thrown into the rabbit hole of love all over again. But, with every metre she dropped, the guilt that came with the thought of revealing her closely-kept secret pounded against the walls of her heart.

Was it fair to cast the curse of notoriety upon her beloved? Was it fair to push her into the harsh glare of the spotlight in her young, naive, unprepared state? Was it fair to rescind the normality the girl was sure to miss?

Was it fair to misdirect millions of people? Was it fair to shatter the image that the media had built up in their minds of the perfect Hatsune Miku? Was it fair to bring a look of hatred upon anyone who as much as mentioned that name in praise?

She flinched in her seat as she felt a hand rest on her bare shoulder. Jerking her eyes away from the screen, she curled up into herself, her body facing the figure.

She relaxed.

As if she was a glass doll, Miku's Princess Charming leaned over the desk chair and nuzzled the top of her head into her pale-white neck, her pink hair falling in front of her left shoulder as she gradually drew her lips closer to her ear, nibbling gently. Miku exhaled as she felt her worries dissipate, reclining back into her seat as the tension in her muscles melted like ice on hot metal.

Slowly, she tapped back to the draft of her post and typed three simple words. As Luka gently kissed her cheek, Miku swiped the screen, and her words were cast into the ominous hands of the Internet, her rights to privacy revoked by the laws of her integrity.

And then, she waited.

And she waited.

And she waited.

* * *

 **A/N:** I've been listening to 715 on repeat since it came out at midnight yesterday and then this word barf happened, so ':D

I appreciate every review, favourite and follow! :D


	26. Indecisive

**Indecisive**

* * *

As soon as Miku saw the rainbow of chocolates through the window, she just knew that she had to enter the shop in order to not regret her whole life leading up to that very moment.

"Luka?"

"Hm?" hummed Luka, looking up from her phone.

Flustered, Miku traced her finger along the crystalline glass. "Can we have a look in here?"

Luka's gaze shifted to behind Miku, and she stilled. "Are you sure?"

Miku let out a broken laugh. "Yeah… Don't worry though, I'll be quick." Luka gave her a disbelieving look, and Miku couldn't hold her unbelieving gaze any longer. "Promise!"

The pink-haired girl kept her eyes on Miku's for a few seconds, watching her gaze flit between the grey pavement and the clear sky. Eventually, she visibly shrunk and, with a sigh, uttered, "Go on then."

"Thanks!" Miku chirped.

Luka's squeak of discontentment was lost with the twinkling of the door bell.

* * *

The chocolatier's was certainly much bigger than what the modest shop window hinted at, Luka had discovered quite quickly.

She mused over a truffle shaped like a sole red leaf as a thought came to mind. Did Miku realise how big the shop was, too?

An enthusiastic shout alerted her to her answer.

"Woah, Luka, look at this!" chimed a certain girl.

Sheepishly smiling at an elderly couple - Miku had interrupted their browsing of the shop's delicious wares - Luka approached Miku and drew her finger to her lips. "Calm down, there's people around."

"This chocolate's shaped like a revolver, Luka!"

Luka drew her head closer to the counter at which Miku was excitedly leaning over, peeking at the chocolates on display. She looked at the chocolate, and nodded in appreciation. "That's clever."

"I know!" squealed the excited girl, bringing her finger close to, but not touching, the silver coating decorating the brown milk chocolate. "How do you think they make it so shiny?" she asked in awe.

"I dunno," replied Luka, smirking. "Maybe you should ask them?"

Miku blew the air out between her lips. "Yeah, as if I'd ever approach a stranger by myself." Within a second, she had moved onto another piece of confectionary. "Woah, look at this one!" she gasped in awe. "Hey, you know about weapons and stuff. What sword is it?"

Luka scrutinised the chocolate. "It's definitely a rapier, but I can't tell which time period it's from for certain." She paused as she looked it over once again. "It seems Italian…couldn't have been made later than the late nineteenth century, which was when they had families in charge of people and stuff. It's probably from a few generations before that, but I'm not completely sure."

"And that," decided Miku, "is why you're the clever one of this relationship. How could you tell that much from a chocolate sword!?" she exclaimed, flabbergasted.

Luka chuckled. "They're quite distinct, you know. Also, this chocolatier is extremely detailed...it's amazing."

Beaming, Miku nudged Luka's shoulder. "Bet you don't regret coming in here now." Her focus shifted to another chocolate. "Ah, Luka, I can't decide which one to get!"

"You're getting one?" she asked, even though Miku had just answered that question for her.

"I can't just _not_ get one," she said, gesturing at all the confectionary with outstretched palms. "Have you seen them? Basically pieces of art. You said the flat needed to be more lively the other day anyways."

Despite the countless holes Luka could spot in Miku's argument ( _it's chocolate, not a piece of fine household decor!_ ), she shrugged. "Which one?"

"I can't decide!" she practically yelled. "They're all too pretty for their own good!"

Luka mused. "You could get two."

Miku snorted. "First off, they're _huge_. The price tag is more than our non-existent disposable income, too."

Luka peered at the price tag, and stepped away.

Sighing, Miku shrugged. "Not even gonna lie, I'd be surprised if they sold them for anything less. The attention to detail is on point, and they use all those fancy ingredients. They need to make a living somehow, right?"

Tentatively, Luka nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but the ringing of her phone cut her off. She pulled it out of her pocket and bought it to her ear. "Hello?"

Miku leaned against the wall as she waited for Luka to finish her phone conversation, letting her eyes roam over the rest of the shop's wares. A certain display caught her eye, and she made her way over to it as Luka talked on the phone.

Luka shoved the phone back into her pocket and walked over to Miku, tapping her on the shoulder. "That was the landlord. The alarm's gone off at home," she explained, running a hand through her pink fringe.

Miku stayed quiet and gazed at the chocolates before her. Concerned, Luka cocked her head to look at her uncharacteristically silent girlfriend, who had a look of amazement painted on her features. "Luka…aren't these the same design as those pendants you got us? The ones of the sun and the moon?"

Confused, Luka looked down. She blinked in disbelief. "...Woah."

"They are, aren't they?"

Luka bent down to get a closer look at the chocolates. "...This has to be a coincidence. Those pendants are historical artefacts. There's no way these chocolates could have been based off that design."

Miku snorted. "If they're such historical artefacts, why did you bring them home and let me get my grubby little fingers on them?" she asked with a wiggle of her (actually quite clean and slender) fingers.

"Shut up." Luka weakly countered Miku's argument before returning her gaze to the chocolates. She thought about them for a couple of seconds before bringing herself back to earth. "Shit, Miku, we need to go home still. The alarm's gone off."

Pouting, Miku whined, gesturing at the displays around them. "But they're too pretty to leave without getting one!"

"Can you make up your mind in the next negative two seconds and then have them paid for in the next five seconds?" asked Luka, gesturing at the queue.

Miku glared at her, before sighing and shrinking. "We can come back later and get some chocolate then, I guess," she conceded.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll be back soon to throw our money at them," assured Luka, grabbing Miku's hand as she walked towards the door.

The teal-haired girl stole one last look at the chocolates before being pulled out of the door by Luka, the door sliding shut behind her.

* * *

They walked to their small car and slipped into their seats. Luka pushed the keys into the little hole and turned them as Miku tapped some buttons on the console, making a song play through the tinny speakers. The car mumbled into consciousness and took them on their way home, silent except for the rumble of the engine and the soft pop music. They were just joining the flow of traffic on the motorway when Luka spoke.

"Which chocolate would you have gotten if you had the chance?"

Miku shifted her head as she turned her head from the window. "I dunno. Maybe the revolver one. It looked really cool."

Luka nodded as she changed gears. "How about that moon one?"

"I dunno." She shrugged. "Moons are more your thing, anyways. I would've gotten the sun one. You know, if I had to get one of those two. We have the proper, inedible pendant versions either ways."

"Did any others catch your eye?"

Miku thought in silence. "There were these two entwined butterfly ones I saw. They were glittery and stuff. Really pretty."

Luka hummed. "We can come back out and get some right after we've sorted out this alarm."

"Nah. It's getting late, and the shop's a bit far from home." Miku looked out of the windshield. "Besides, I wouldn't know which one to pick."

"You can get more than one. As many as you want."

"Yeah, but we need the money more than I need chocolate."

The pinkette watched the other girl for a few seconds. "Is that why you've gone quiet?"

"What?"

"Money."

"...Only a bit."

Luka sighed and shook her head. "Honestly, it's all fine. It'll all work out in the end."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. We always get through it, don't we?" she nudged her endearingly.

Miku looked downward. "But I feel bad! Since I can't find anywhere that wants a girl with a music degree, and your library job isn't the most well-paying out there…"

"Honestly, Miku. Trust me. It'll all be fine."

Miku showed a small smile. "Okay. But we shouldn't get the chocolates just yet. I need time to decide."

Luka laughed. "When will you have made your mind up?"

"I dunno. Too much choice. It's...too much."

"Let's just go with the flow, then," stated Luka as she took the slip road off the motorway. "I'm not gonna lie though, the sun and moon ones looked good. And the sword and revolver ones. They looked nice too."

Miku's smile widened. "And you think you can ask _me_ which one to get."

"Shut up," countered Luka. "I have an excuse. My history knowledge is just begging for me to get them and examine them."

"Your degree in history makes you want to examine a chocolate replica?"

"I said shut up."

"And yet you keep speaking as if you want me to answer."

"...Shut up."

"You want me to reply and let you win the argument."

"There isn't an argument to be won!"

"That's what you think."

They continued their playful debate until they reached their flat, where they found Miku's little blonde twin cousins guiltily speaking with the angry landlord. Luka and Miku looked at each other and sighed.

They wouldn't let those two share any of their chocolates, that was for sure.


	27. Amazed

**Amazed**

* * *

" _Luka. You fucking superhuman._ "

"Be a bit quieter," I urged, scrawling some more random, meaningless words onto the blank page in from of me that was, thankfully, growing less and less blank and more and more covered in blue scribbles as my pen moved.

Miku's rasterized image spun around in her desk chair on the dim computer screen. " _How many pages of writing have you done so far?_ " she asked, throwing a pen into the air and catching it with a net of her long hair.

My pen paused for a few seconds as I evaluated the day's work. "Ten pages of A4 and five revision cards."

Whistling, the other girl drew nearer to the camera on her side, her rosy nose cheeks growing disproportionately bigger. " _Super. Human._ " She breathed out, and the condensation made the camera all fuzzy. " _How many words do you do on a line?_ "

Once again, I lifted my pen from the paper and counted two lines worth of writing. "I've got an average of thirteen from a very small sample size."

" _...You what?_ "

"Thirteen, Miku. Thirteen."

Miku leaned back in acknowledgement, the connection between the two computers over the magical (yet sometimes abused) thing called the Internet dropping slightly, rendering Miku's image frozen.

I smirked and gazed at the camera. "Am I still moving?" I asked as I waved my hand. Suddenly, Miku's figure burst back into life and had somehow conjured up a calculator, and was deep into some maths problem - a sight I'd never thought I'd see.

The girl's aquamarine eyes flickered up, and she nodded as she carried on violently tapping the poor buttons on the old scientific calculator I was sure she hadn't touched since we graduated three years ago.

" _Shit, Luka, you've done at least four-thousand-four-hundred-and-twenty words by hand today and that's not even counting the ones you did on your revision card things._ "

I looked up and looked into Miku's excited eyes on the computer screen. "What?"

" _Oops. Pressed the delete button by accident._ "

My gaze fell towards the book that I'd shoved into the corner of the desk in a joyous haze after completing the four essays I'd neglected to the last minute. "That's…a lot of words."

" _Ah ha, so you_ did _hear what I said, and just asked 'what' to show your disbelief,_ " concluded Miku, patting herself on the back as she watched me through the webcam with a smug look on her face.

I laughed at her as I resumed writing. "It seems all this homework is somehow affecting you as well."

" _Oh, God no,_ " disagreed Miku loudly, " _I'm too much of a lost cause to be affected by your weird cleverness things. Besides, if I couldn't learn in school, how the fuck do you expect me to learn when I'm in America of all places?_ " She sniggered as she flopped backwards onto the bed.

"Give yourself some more credit," I said as I smiled. "How's the tour going, anyway?"

Miku fiddled with her hair. " _It's...meh. Performing is fun and all, but...damn. These fans can get a little_ too _rabid sometimes,_ " she revealed, before creating a faux goatee and moustache with her hair.

I finished writing my sentence, dropping my pen and shaking my hands, revelling in the feeling of blood circulation once again. "But the performing is fun, right?"

" _Oh, without a doubt,_ " she answered in a heartbeat, her laggy image failing to keep up with her voice. " _Ah, Luka, we're breaking up. I'll call you after my show tonight, yeah?_ "

Almost impulsively, I clutched a hand to my chest and sucked in a strangled breath. "We're…breaking up?" I asked, my voice as broken and hoarse as I could muster. I kept the act up even though, but this point, the video part of the video call had completely frozen.

" _What? No, where'd you- Oh! No! I didn't mean it like that! I meant it like-_ "

"Yeah, I get you," I replied with breathy laughter, hopefully drawing the other girl out of her panic. "Just a joke, don't worry your poor little heart. I'm gonna go out for lunch now. Love you." I spoke quickly, before falling silent and waiting for the Mikul's reply.

" _You what? I mean- What are you- How is- argh! What kind of a sick joke is this?_ " said Miku as she interrogated her poor computer. Laughing manically, I ended the call in the middle of her confused beration.

Just as I was leaving the door to go to the coffee shop nearby, I got a text. I glanced at my phone and smiled.

 _Hey, you never gave me the chance to say, love you too._


	28. Tired

**Tired**

* * *

The phone vibrates from under the pillow, and I let out a silent scream.

"What," I croak, my voice thick with sleepiness.

" _My girlfriend_ ," says the other person. " _She's not replying._ "

I laugh, wiping the sleepy tears from my eyes. Balancing the phone on my left cheek, I twirl my teal hair around my hand, and then throw it out of the way. "Don't worry, she'll reply soon enough. How long has it been?" I draw out all the vowels in my words, having lost the will to speak properly.

I hear her shuffle over the line. " _Like...ten minutes._ "

I groan. Contorting my body like a cat, I wipe my face against the pillow before turning it around in order to hide the uncomfortable spit stain. "Give her some time, dude," I say, before yawning loudly right into the microphone. "Remember that one time you thought I was mad at you because I didn't reply within eleven minutes of your text?"

" _Be quiet_ ," she says, and I could picture the embarrassed look she had on. " _I was scared. You never speak to me anymore._ "

"Luka," I emphasise. "It's one-fucking-thirty-eight in the morning. I am talking. What more do you want?"

" _My girlfriend to reply._ "

I hiss out slowly, tossing and turning on my bed. "Why am I talking to you?"

She snorts. " _Why_ are _you talking to me? I would've thought you would be asleep now._ "

"How do you fucking do it?" I ask. I slap myself in the cheek two, maybe three times to ward the sleep off.

" _What? Talk to you?_ "

"No, you dumbfuck. How the hell are you still awake?" I yawn, if not because I'm literally falling asleep, then to emphasise my point. "Are you sure you haven't, like, taken anything weird recently?"

" _I've been without my girlfriend's texts for the past ten minutes. I'm getting withdrawals._ "

I close my eyes, and the phone slides off my cheek, plopping next to my nose with a little bounce. "This is a serious question, but you know," I ask, putting on a fake English accent, "are you gay?"

She doesn't say anything, and I open the eye which isn't smushed against the mattress halfway, looking towards the phone. "Luka?"

I frown. "I'm not being mean or anything, swears. I'm just curious. Please don't be mad at me."

She still doesn't say anything, and I pick up the phone, pulling it to my face. "I'm sorry dude, I didn't mean to upset or offend- oh."

The lock screen is distinctly lacking a name and a little timer with the duration of the phone call I'm supposed to be on. Squashing my face back against the bed once again, I start another call, dropping the phone next to my face, careful not to inadvertently end the call in the process this time. Abruptly, the monotone beeping gives way to a voice. " _Why did you end the call?_ "

"Sorry," I apologise, nuzzling the corner of the pillow. "I think my face accidentally turned it off."

" _...What?_ "

"Dude, you have no right to question my actions. I'm the one staying awake to keep you entertained while you wait for your galpal to reply."

" _Oh yeah. About that. She replied._ "

"Ooh."

" _I love her so much._ "

"So do _I_ ," I agree, drawing out my last vowel.

" _Like, she's ugly, but have you seen her personality?_ "

"Yeah. Dead beautiful on the inside, isn't she."

" _Yeah. So nice._ "

"Yeah." I pause, before throwing out my question from earlier. "You're gay, aren't you?"

She doesn't reply straight away, so I check the phone to make sure I didn't somehow end the call with my hair or something. "Yo? You there?"

" _You're high, Miku._ "

"I'm tired. The difference between the two is small, but it's there."

" _I thought you were more reserved than this._ "

"It's two o'clock now, man. Manners are not a thing at two o'clock in the morning."

" _Why do you even want to know anyways?_ "

"Curiosity." I cross my arms over my face. "C'mon, you can tell me. I'll be too tired in the morning to remember anything anyways. I'm basically drunk."

" _As I can tell._ "

"Why, thank you. But that's not answering the question."

I hear her sigh, and I smile. " _You won't tell anyone?_ "

"I swear on my sleep."

" _...Yes. I am._ "

"Woo," I cheer monotonously. "Follow-up question: who do you like?"

She pauses. " _...My girlfriend, obviously._ "

I snort. "I meant in real life."

" _She_ is _my girlfriend!_ " she yells down the phone, and I can feel the pout in her voice.

I hum. "Does she even know that you've got a relationship going on?"

" _Nah._ " Her reply is almost automatic. " _People knowing one another's feelings is overrated. My business is my business, and people should respect that._ "

"So, if I may ask again: who do you like in real life?"

She inhales loudly, before blowing the air out through her lips right against the small phone microphone, resulting in a harsh jumble of static hitting my ears. "... _Well, I don't exactly think they like me back. So there's no use in telling you._ "

"Hey," I interject, "I can help. For starters, telling someone gets it off your chest, and that's a good thing to do. Also, the name Hatsune Miku is on contact lists all over the city. I can get you the deets on any girl in the area if you want it."

" _I'm okay, thanks_ ," she says, her voice thick with sarcasm. " _I can do just fine._ "

I laugh at her, before suddenly falling silent as I hear someone move in the corridor outside my door. "Go on, try me. You won't be disappointed," I whisper.

" _...Okay._ " She agrees, and shuffles around. " _I'll give you clues for who it can be._ "

"C'mon man, that's not fair. I can't think right now. I'm basically drunk."

" _I'm starting to believe that you're_ actually _drunk, since you've already said that exact thing this evening._ "

"Okay okay I hear you," I say, eager to start with the game. "Gimme clues."

".. _.So. She has long hair, and she's kinda short-_ "

"No dude, don't describe her appearence. Give me, like, personality traits she has. It's harder that way."

" _Fine by me_ ," she agrees (somewhat easily, I notice, but disregard). " _She's not the cleverest girl in class - she's usually near the bottom of the results tables - but she's got common sense, though she usually doesn't act like it. She's really friendly and has social skills, and basically everyone is her friend. She keeps saying she's drunk, but it's a bit of a facade - she's too much of a wuss to actually get drunk or high or something._ " She pauses for a minute, and I take the opportunity to collect my thoughts. " _Need me to keep going?_ "

Humming, I scrunch up my face. A series of portraits flash before my closed eyes before settling on one person, whose face I open my eyes to. "I've got it."

" _Who?_ " she asks, slightly quickly.

"Ah ha," I say, rubbing my hands together, "wait until I tell Rin about this!"

She falls silent, and I roll my eyes at the idea that I've inadvertently hung up with my face again. " _Luka._ Speak. Please. To. Me."

" _Did I neglect to mention that she's really dense too?"_

I replay the conversation back through my mind. "Yeah, I don't think you said that. But Rin's, like, clever. She gets things. She knew stuff about me before I even knew."

" _Ah well_ ," she says, " _game's over, and you've lost. See you tomorrow, dense-yet-common-sensical girl!_ "

I yawn a "g'night" at her before letting the phone fall off my face and onto the pillow. Just as I close my eyes to sleep, I realise something about the person Luka was talking about.

… _Eh?_


	29. Wrong

**Wrong**

* * *

 _The girl I like_

My heart is pounding like a prisoner in the solitary confinement of my rib cage as he types out the end of his statement.

 _Is you_

I read the text.

I exhale.

My heart speeds up in my chest, growing more and more ravenous for information.

Shakily, I write out a reply, trying to conceal the rising panic creeping up my spine.

 _...really? XD_

My thumb flies to the blue arrow before I have a chance to reconsider my words. Am I being rude? Is the emoticon too lighthearted? Am I leading him on?

The three grey dots mutate into another message.

 _Yeah, you Miku_

 _I think_

 _Maybe I'm at an equilibrium? I don't know_

I inhale and my heart starts to slow.

He's...at an equilibrium. He doesn't know whether he likes me or not.

I should feel relieved at the thought that he might not like me; without feelings, there is no heartbreak, no awkwardness, no change in the relationship.

Isn't that what I want?

...Then why does his indecisiveness pang in my chest? Am I not good enough for him? Is he playing a joke on me?

Another notification pops up on my screen from someone else, and I feel my chest tighten with a feeling I know so, _so_ well, yet still cannot place. I tap it open.

 _Did you find out who Kaito likes yet?_

My thumbs hover over the keys. Once upon a time, texting her was so easy, so free, so natural.

When did I start dreading her words?

A different notification pops up and my movements fall to a stop. Do I tell her? Why shouldn't I tell her? She's my best friend, she knows what I should do, right?

I type slowly.

 _It's me._

Her reply is almost instantaneous.

 _Yesss I knew he liked you! What are you going to tell him?_

I know exactly what I _should_ tell him: I'm sorry, but I don't think I like you like that. No, I don't need to think it over, I'm sure.

 _I don't know..._

I bite my lip as I look over the message. I hesitate before adding on something else.

 _Maybe I should give him a try?_

My words have been sent into the void, with no way to take them back.

Luka knows me better than I know myself. Her advice wouldn't lead me astray, right?

 _Yessss girl :D let me know how it goes ;)_

I blink at her reply. She thinks I should do it? Go out with Kaito?

The uncomfortable, heavy feeling in my throat worsens. A wave of apathy washes over me.

Without a second thought, I enter the other chat and type out four words.

 _I like you too._

I quickly re-enter mine and Luka's chat and tell her what I did.

 _I told him I liked him too._

Luka doesn't reply as fast this time, which gives me an unwanted chance to think over my words. Why am I telling her this? Does she need to know everything I do? How do I want her to react to this?

The longer she takes to reply, the more I feel the regret bubbling in my stomach. It's not him I should text with those four words, it's-

She replies.

 _Good! This'll be a fun experience for you_

How about if I don't want to experience it with him? How about if I want to experience it with someone else?

... _you sure?_

This is the last chance. She needs to stop me now. I am making a mistake. Stop me...please, stop me.

Her words are crushing.

 _Definitely :D maybe we can go on a double date once I get that fit guy from the coffee shop's number ;)_

...Ah. So she has her own crush.

With nothing left to lose, I leave her chat and open his. My thumbs work on autopilot.

 _Hey, let's go for coffee tomorrow._

I suck in a breath.

 _It's a date._

* * *

 **A/N:** messy story is messy but heyyy if there's anyone out there please let me know if negitoro is still a thing? thanks :D

thanks for reading!


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